BY EMEKA AGINAM

Unless more state governments sign a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, with the Ministry of communication technology for the implementation of the Smart State initiative, Nigeria’s quest to become a digital economy may be derailed.

This, among other issues formed the summation of a communique issued at the end of the third meeting of the National Council on Communication Technology, NCCT, held in Yenogoa, Bayelsa State recently.

Already, three states, including Lagos, Cross River and Federal Capital Territory have signed the MoU with the Federal Ministry of Communication Technology, FMCT. Meanwhile, the Smart State initiative is being tested in Anambra, Bayelsa, Ondo with others to follow.

Before now, the Ministry of Communication Technology and the Broadband Council chaired by the Minister of Communication Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson, have been promoting the ‘Smart State’ initiative; a campaign geared at engaging governors and relevant authorities at the state and federal level to address the issue of multiple taxation impeding the development of critical infrastructure across Nigeria.

Accordingly, the communique urged the Nigerian Postal Service, NIPOST to use its post offices to deploy ICT services all across the country and leverage on existing Public Access Venues, PAV, infrastructure around the country to deploy its services.

Earlier in her keynote address at the NCCT forum, Johnson while commending Bayelsa state for signing the Smart State MoU disclosed that the Ministry was collaborating with Bayelsa State in a number of areas and congratulated the Governor for pursuing a Digital Transformation Agenda in his State.

Priority areas:

Johnson highlighted the top priority areas of the Ministry to include Connect Nigeria-which focuses on building ICT infrastructure, Connect Nigerians, ICT in government and Local Content.

She disclosed that the Ministry of Communication Technology has made progress in its priority areas resulting in improvements in a number of indicators including tele-density, active subscription, number of internet users, and internet penetration.

She assured that the Ministry of Communication Technology would provide the necessary leadership and rallying point for ensuring that the potential of the Nigerian ICT sector was fully harvested for the attainment of inclusive and sustainable development. Deliberating exhausting the 73-page report presented by the meeting, the NCCT urged State and Local governments in the country to make policy changes in the areas of investing in infrastructure security and development, among others.

The communique also urged members to sensitize their Chief Executives and mobilize support for implementation of the national addressing policy to be piloted in the six geopolitical zones with Ekiti, Nasarawa, Benue, Bayelsa, Osun, Plateau, Gombe and Anambra states as volunteers.

All states in the country were also urged to participate actively in the effort to finalise the national e-government framework.

The NCCT Meeting which considered 49 substantive memoranda in addition to a number of information memos also called on all tiers of government in Nigeria to consider the adoption of the Open Data policy as a means of creating jobs, making data available for policy formulation and decision making as well as reducing the cost of governance and improving public service delivery.

Other recommendations contained in the communique include a call for the institutionalization of equal participation for women and girls in ICT as a matter of priority for national development and the adoption and replication of the Ministry’s Digital Girls curriculum in State secondary schools across the nation.

The communique also urged members of the Council to bring the contents of the Guidelines for Nigerian Local Content in ICT to the attention of state MDAs, ICT companies and the public in general.

To further promote the Digital Jobs initiative of the FMCT , the communique urged each State to provide a suitable venue with 250 sitting capacity and nominate 800 unemployed youths for the workshop for training of prospective job seekers on digital job opportunities.

States and local governments were also urged to support the Nigeria Communication Satellite, NigComSat as it negotiates with them on the acquisition of sites for the deployment of infrastructure to facilitate the affordability of its services.

Also, in order to put a sustainable mechanism for addressing the problem of Cyber security in the country, Council also called on NITDA to actively work towards the development of National Cyber security Strategy without prejudice to ongoing efforts of the Office of the National Security Adviser. Companies and entities at both the State and Federal levels were also urged by the communique to have .ng domain names and to establish web presence.