Nigeria’s development requires a robust digital economy — Minister

Alice Babalola — Fri, 03 Feb 2023 16:55:29 +0000

The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Pantami on Thursday said the sector was crucial to the realisation of Nigeria’s full potential.

Pantami said this in Abuja at a two-day workshop on Satellite-Based Augmentation System (SBAS), a flight demonstration within the Nigerian Airspace by Nigerian Communications Satellite (NIGCOMSAT) Ltd using the NigComSat-1R payload, the L-Band.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the NigComSat-1R navigation (L-Band) payload provides Navigational overlay Services, which have disruptive applications in the aviation and the non-aviation sectors.

The event was organised by the SatNav Africa Joint Programme Office (JPO), in collaboration with the ANGA programme and NIGCOMSAT and the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA).

The overall aim was to provide a knowledge-sharing platform to support stakeholders’ decision-making in the creation of synergies.

This is to enable the collective reaping of benefits provided by SBAS in the continent, including safety, efficiency and environmental protection benefits.

The minister said communication and digital technology was the key enabler of other sectors like security, defence, health, agriculture, education and aviation.

“The satellite covers part of the Atlantic Ocean and Indian Ocean, it covers parts of Asia and Europe.

” Our satellite here in Nigeria has the capacity to provide the navigation overlay services.

The Nigerian Communications Satellite has the capacity to support the implementation of the SBAS not only in Nigeria but in the whole of Africa with 54 countries, ” Pantami said.

He, however, urged African nations to consider the Nigerian Communication Satellite when the need arises.

Pantami also said the deployment of SBAS by using the navigation overlay services would significantly improve accuracy of signal, its availability and integrity.

“I have directed NIGCOMSAT to collaborate and reach out to the aviation sector to ensure successful implementation of SBAS in Africa,” he said.

The Managing Director of NIGCOMSAT Ltd, Mr Tukur Lawal said the success of the flight demonstration underscored the need for collaborative efforts by the relevant agencies.

He said that this would facilitate the efforts of the Federal Government in meeting the desired goals of a digital Nigeria, which he said would bring unprecedented results.

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FG targets economic growth, job creation through ICT

Alice Babalola — Tue, 15 Feb 2022 18:56:11 +0000

The Federal Government has given an assurance that it would not relent in its efforts at promoting Digital innovation and Digital Entrepreneurship among Nigerian youths.

The Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Pantami, gave the assurance on Tuesday while commissioning an IT Innovation centre (hub) named after President Muhammadu Buhari in Katsina State.

According to him, this development would make the youths become job providers and contribute to the growth of the nation’s economy.

While retriating the importance of this development, the Minister said the world economy had moved from being dominated by those in the oil and gas sector to those in the Information and Technology, citing individuals such as Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates and institutions such as the Silicon Valley and the Massacheuttes University of Technology.

He stressed that the ambition of the federal government was to have individuals and institutions that would attain the same greatness and wealth through Information and Technology.

According to him, Nigeria needs to create a conducive environment and mentorship that would encourage talented youths in the IT sector, adding that this informed the Federal Government to build the IT centre in Katsina state.

The minister said “ Digital Innovation and Digital Entrepreneurship are the prerequisites for Digital economy. Leading nations today in Europe, Switzerland, Asia, South Korea and the United States excel in Digital innovation and Digital entrepreneurship have a strong economy.

“Nigeria cannot and should not be left behind. That is why this kind of IT hub where our youths’ needs in Information Technology would be monitored while we shall continue to mentor them so that they will end up being job providers and successful IT individuals such as Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates of this world.

“A centre like this will help the federal government and the state government to discover our talented youths and mentor them so that they will become job providers and contribute to the nation’s economy.’

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Professor Isa Pantami | InsideOjodu

Nigeria’s development requires a robust digital economy — Minister

FG targets economic growth, job creation through ICT