"ICT Must Provide Solutions to the Day-to-Day Challenges Confronting Us" - Shittu

Communications Minister, Honourable Adebayo Shittu has stated that Nigeria must deploy ICT and optimise the inherent benefits to tackle contemporary challenges of life.

Shittu said this at the Digital Government Conference organised recently in Abuja by Microsoft.

The Conference was conceptualized to empower governments to digitally share latest innovative technology trends and government solutions through Microsoft platforms to improve the capabilities of governments at all levels.

The Honourable Minister said the increasing pressure to deliver more and better services to a growing urban population  in the midst of macroeconomic challenges and other environmental issues have made it imperative upon governments globally to optimise the benefits of ICT.

In Nigeria, Shittu declared that Government-Citizenship engagements and service delivery has been fundamentally altered in a concrete positive sense through ICT driven applications such as TSA, IPPIS, BVN, and Budget Portal among others. These initiatives have caused huge savings, efficiency and transparency in governance.

The Minister also said the frontiers of participation and collaboration by MDAs have been expanded with the 1-gov.net platform which consolidates existing government ICT infrastructure into a common platform. Today this programme enables MDAs to exchange data in a seamless manner while each retains its independence, maintains its privacy and also secured its operations.

Shittu said the Federal Ministry of Communications' ICT Strategy Roadmap 2017-2020 is predicated on Smart Cities Nigeria Initiative; the establishment of ICT University of Nigeria; the establishment of ICT Development Bank; and the creation of ICT Parks and Exhibition Centres. He requested Microsoft and others to find accommodation in these programmes to collaborative with the Nigerian government.