At the National Policy on Nigeria Government Second-Level Domains launching in Abuja at the State House, President Muhammadu Buhari ordered government officials not to utilize private email accounts for official correspondence. In addition, he mandated that all public institutions of the federation move their website to official government domains. In a statement signed by Femi Adesina, the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, the launch of two policies on the digital economy has brought honour and dignity to the country, President Buhari says diversification has been most successful in the sector.
Speaking further at the event, the president commended the new policy that has been launched and also applauded the recent implementation of Starlink services offered by SpaceX in the country. He stated that Nigeria now has a broadband penetration rate of 100 percent. He stated that the nation is pleased that Starlink services have already been established in Nigeria. As a result, Nigeria has become the first country on the African continent to possess this connection.
Many steps have been taken to achieve the country’s digital economic goal.
According to him, the most successful part of Nigeria’s efforts to diversify the economy has been in the country’s digital economy sector, which in turn has helped the federal government save more than N45.7 billion in the clearance of information technology projects. He explained that he presided over the ministerial retreat that took place on October 17 and 18, 2022 and that they were joined by independence assessors from the Foreign, Development Office and Commonwealth as well as KPMG.
He explained that the first steps that Nigeria has taken toward achieving its goal of having a flourishing digital economy started on October 17, 2019, when he revamped the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy as well as the ministry mandate. And now, they are impressed by the tremendous progress that the digital economy sector has made as well as the impact that it has had on the various other sectors of the economy of the country. He praised the Honorable Minister for their unwavering dedication to carrying out the requirements of the digital economy mandate.
21 new policies and plans have been enacted since 2019.
Regarding the policy importance, he said that as the key strategy to ensuring that the country’s benefits in the digital economy sector are sustainable, they had made efforts to institutionalize the process by creating appropriate policies and strategies. More so, he disclosed that the government had passed 21 new national policies and plans since 2019, adding that the two new policies that were unveiled will boost the growth of the digital economy sector in the country.
He remarked that the results of their efforts to improve the digital economy over the past three and a half years have been extremely impressive because they have prioritized the creation of policies, the design of programs, and the implementation of initiatives. They have accomplished diversifying the economy to a great amount, as evidenced by the fact that the information and communications technology industry contributed 18.44% to GDP in the second quarter of 2022, while the oil sector contributed only 6.33%.
Achievement in the digital ecosystem would be monitored by the policy.
Moreover, in affirmation of the launch, Prof. Isa Pantami, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy in his remark acknowledged that the new policies that are being implemented were the results of adherence to the president’s mandate to work on a National Policy, which was approved earlier by the Federal Executive Council. Prof. Pantami explained further that the policies’ primary objective is to solidify the benefits that have been accomplished in the digital environment so far.
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