The Centre for Cyber Awareness and Development (CECAD), has priased President Muhammadu Buhari for his appointment of Dr Isa Ali Pantami as the Minister of Communications. According to the President of the Centre, Dr Bayero Agabi, the appointment of the former Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA is a testament of his enormous achievement at the agency.
“Pantami is the first Director General of any of the agencies within the Ministry to be elevated to the position of the Minister of Communications. What that implies is that he will need little or no introduction nor will he be learning the mandate or direction of the Ministry afresh. Without doubt, given his familiarity and good knowledge of the IT and Communications industry, Pantami will hit the ground running” Bayero enthused.
While referring to some of his positive work at NITDA, the veteran of the IT broadcast media assured the new Minister that as a watchdog of cyber space with dedicated commitment to promoting cyber responsibility, the Centre for Cyber Awareness and Development remains focused at ensuring that Nigerians desist from fraudulent use of the internet space and habit of fake news which he said continues to malign the image of the country which the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has worked tirelessly to restore since the inception of his administration.
Expressing his confidence in the ability of Pantami, Bayero added “given his recent antecedents and wealth of experience as well as immense contributions to the growth of the sector in particularly the Information Communication Technology industry where he raised the bar in Local Content implementation, we are not in doubt that your choice is a welcome development that will help Mr President to achieve his next level objective for Nigeria.
The Centre for Cyber Awareness and Development is an advocacy, training, public education and development non-profit, non-governmental organisation (NGO) established and incorporated with Nigeria’s Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).
In a related Development, Nigeria’s oldest and foremost internet advocacy interest body, the Nigeria Internet Group has called on the new Minister of Communication to help drive the country’s broadband penetration to appreciable level before the expiration of this administration. While congratulating Pantami, the President of the Group Destiny Amana said the task before the Minister is clearly one that is full of expectations especially because he is not a new comer on the saddle.
“Stakeholders are anticipating a significant boost in the sector because he already has the administrative experience and understating of the issues affecting the growth of the industry, he has to create an investment-friendly business environment that will drive innovation and job creation via clearly articulated digital roadmap and policy direction”.
One thing that is clear in the view of many is the consensus that the industry remains a critical game changer and economic mainstay hence it is pertinent that everyone joins hands with the Minister to fast track its growth.
