The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Pantami, has bagged the prestigious Dubai World Trade Centre Leadership and Commitment Award 2022.
Pantami was given international recognition at the end of a discussion on “Digital Inclusion: Aligning Regulators and Network Providers to Bridge Digital Divide” in which he participated at the ongoing Gulf Information Technology Exhibition GITEX in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Before the award, the minister, who spoke on a wide range of issues, took time to enlighten the participants at the summit about the unprecedented contribution of the information and communications technology (ICT) sector in growing the nation’s digital economy.
According to him, Nigeria has a lot of policies to close the digital divide in the country.
“These initiatives can be divided in two; the first is in the area of digital skills (to provide digital skills to our citizens) and the second is accessibility and connectivity.
“As a foundation, what the Federal Government has done is come up with policies that will ensure connectivity, affordability and digital skills for Nigerians,” Pantami maintained.
The most important policy, the minister noted, is the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) for a digital Nigeria which was unveiled and launched in November 2019 and the Nigerian National Broadband Plan 2020- 2025 which was also launched in March 2020.
“The Federal Government has been implementing these two policies out of many to ensure connectivity on one hand and digital skills on the other.
“With the initiatives under the policies and funds provided, the Federal Government is hoping to encourage and support the private sector to come in and leverage on government infrastructure and render services to our people,” the minister stressed.
He explained in detail other key policies and initiatives embarked upon by the Federal Government and the overall benefits to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Meanwhile, the awardee was full of gratitude for the recognition as he said the award reflects the unarguably rapidly growing trajectory of the sector.
