By Emeka Aginam

The Minister of Communication Technology, Mrs Omobola Johnson has assured that the the harmonized national Information Communication Technology ( ICT) policy is expected to create digital based economy for Nigeria.

The Minister on Monday had released draft national ICT policy for comments and views from the stakeholders in the industry.

It would be recalled that the Minister had in August 2011, set up an Adhoc Committee to harmonize all the various policies for the different sectors in the ICT industry including Telecommunications, Broadcasting, Information Technology and Postal Services. The national ICT policy was developed in support of the development goals of the Nigerian vision 20-2020 imperative

Policy document

The policy document is the harmonization of the disparate policies governing the ICT industry.

With this development, the policy is expected to be the overarching guide and platform for the overall development of the ICT industry and will facilitate the creation of a digital, knowledge based economy.

However, the harmonization of the various disparate policies marks the first step in the restructuring of the industry for the overall development of the ICT sector. The policy, Vanguard gathered will be on the Ministry’s website for two weeks as stakeholders and members of the public are expected to view the policy and make their comments before it is presented to the Federal Executive Council.

Stakeholders in the industry, it would be recalled had for long canvassed for the harmonisation of disparate ICT policies in the industry to fast track the development of Nigeria into a digital economy for sustainable development.

The harmonized policy is expected to lay the foundation for the overall development of the nation’s ICT sector.

The Minister had earlier during the investiture and awards ceremony organised by the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS), encouraged Nigerians and Information Technology (IT) professionals to watch out for the release of the ICT policy and make necessary inputs.

“I encourage you all to go to our website to take a look at the policy and ensure it’s in line with what you envisaged and hoped for the industry, and make comments.

“I really believe that with the new policy we would be well on the way to making the ICT industry what it should be in a country as large and as diverse and as important as Nigeria”, she added.

In a related development, the federal government is concluding arrangements to establish Information Technology (IT) Business incubation centres in five states across the federation to among things unleash local talents to drive the ICT industry.

Before now, Johnson had inaugurated the Development Committee for Information Technology Business incubation centers in Nigeria.

The IT business incubation committee which has 19 member head by Adedotun Sulaiman it was learnt, has bee given six weeks to submit their report to the Minister of Communication Technology.

With this , the Minister had charged the committee to develop a sustainable framework for a domestic IT Business Incubation framework that would amongst other things, discover, nurture and unleash local talent to drive the growth of the ICT industry, facilitate the commercialization of research results as well as the acquisition and use of state of the art technologies, promote domestic resource exploitation and improve the international competitiveness of the Nigerian ICT industry.