Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu, says the present administration is leveraging on the benefits of the digital revolution, innovation and convergence of technology to kick-start a new digitally SMART Nigeria.
The Minister also said that the Federal Government is partnering with South Korea on e-Government on the Smart Nigeria initiative, adding that the collaboration would enhance Nigeria’s capability for efficiency, transparency and accountability in governance, with its attendant benefits trickling down to the citizens.
He stated that with this initiative, IT outsourcing, e-Commerce can be used to create over 40 million jobs for unemployed Nigerians.
He expressed the ministry’s commitment to ensuring a policy and regulatory environment that would attract the massive private sector investment via the Smart Nigeria plan required to continue accelerating the creation of a robust, pervasive and ubiquitous ICT infrastructure across the country in the next few years.
That, according to him, necessitated the re-calibration of the existing policies and institutional configurations as well as the values that underpin these initiatives, to meet the present day realities.
As part of measures to promote local content policy, the minister said the Federal Government would continue to draw attention of Nigerians to support local content policy, which demands that organisations and industries in Nigeria, including government agencies, patronize locally developed products from Nigeria.
Shittu also said that the government is also fast-tracking initiatives to expedite the penetration of reliable and affordable broadband plan for robust internet services availability in the country, adding that it would increase economic development and several business growths.
Vanguard
