President Muhammadu Buhari has lauded the embattled Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Pantami, for what he called his “landmark achievements” in the digital economy sector.
The President said the commitment of the minister in carrying out his responsibility of developing the digital economy sector was commendable.
The President spoke at the Launch of the National Policy for the Promotion of Indigenous Content in the Nigerians Telecommunication Sector and the Revised National Digital Identity Policy for SIM Card Registration, commended the minister for his landmark achievements.
Pantami has been under fire with many Nigerians calling for his sack or resignation over his past comments which suggested ties with terrorist groups.
Some Nigerians have expressed concerns that Patami could not be trusted and should not be trusted with the massive data of the country.
Buari’s words, “I commend the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami), for the landmark achievements of the digital economy sector and his commitment in carrying out his responsibility of developing the sector, including championing the growth of the indigenous telecom sector and NIN-SIM registration process. I also commend the industry stakeholders for their support for the sector.”
Speaking further, Buhari also noted that the Digital Economy sector played a significant role in the country’s Gross Domestic Product, thanks to the numerous unprecedented achievements of Pantami since he expanded the mandate of the Ministry of Communications to include the digital economy mandate.
The National Bureau of Statistics(NBS) had said that the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector grew by 14.70% in the last quarter of 2020.
This makes the ICT sector the fastest-growing sector in the last quarter of 2020, beating Agricultural sector which came second with 3.42% growth.
According to Buhari, the achievement of Pantami in developing the digital economy sector player a huge role in triggering the exit of the country from recession.
“The sector’s 14.70% double digit growth rate played a principal role in supporting our country to exit the recession triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. The growth rate of the sector exceeded 4 times the next fastest growing sector of Q4 2020, Agricultural sector which had a growth rate of 3.42%. This is truly commendable,” the President added.
On the National Policy for Indigenous Content in the Nigerian Telecommunications Sector, Buhari stated that the policy is in line with the commitment of his administration towards ensuring that Nigerians become active participants in the different sectors of the economy, including the telecommunications sector.
According to him, the policy will allow Nigerians “to play a major role in the design and manufacture of devices, in meeting the manpower requirements and in becoming an active part of the telecommunications ecosystem of the country.”
