By Mohammed Mohammed
The federal government has stated that capacity building, inter-agency collaboration and collaboration are some of the factors
that will bridge the digital divide and enhance technology penetration across the nation.
The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy Mr. Musa Istifanus, made the disclosure at the 7th regular meeting of the national council on communications and digital economy in Gombe.
He reiterated the commitment of the government to fully integrate ICTs into the socio-economic development of Nigeria in order to transform the country into a knowledge-based economy.
He said: “The policy thrusts of the ministry clearly articulate government’s intent in a number of thematic areas amongst which are local content development, ICT research, development and innovation, investment and funding, inter agency cooperation in ICT hardware production, universal access and service Internet and broadband”
The perm sec. pointed out that society has realized the gains of ICTs and government is committed to utilizing these possibilities with new policies interventions that would be required to address global challenges in areas such as digital economy and local challenges of societal cohesion, escalating healthcare costs, aging society and life-style change.
Istifanus said: “New technologies (devices, mobility) and technology capabilities (interoperability, security, data analytics) offer new ways to make this achievable.
The society is moving towards transparency and openness. There are initiatives to increase the engagement with the citizen, attract usage, develop increased levels of thrust, and improve the service delivery. ICT offers the best platform to achieve this.”
He urged the participants to take advantage of the many sessions at the meeting to come up with resolutions to address challenges in the present-day realities and take advantage of the networking opportunities available to forge strategic partnership towards realizing the vision of a new Nigeria.
Earlier, the Gombe State Commissioner for Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr. Aishatu Maigari, thanked the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Mr. Ibrahim Pantami for choosing the state to host the 2019 council meeting in Gombe State.