Minister’s Week in Review

Recap (January 13 – 17, 2024) of the activities of Dr. ‘Bosun Tijani, Honourable Minister for Communications, Innovation & Digital Economy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

INTRO?

As a key pillar of our strategic blueprint, digital trade continues to receive significant attention from my Ministry, as I engaged in a high level roundtable this week to deliberate on the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) protocols. The implementation of the protocols presents a great avenue for Nigerian businesses and startups to take advantage of this opportunity.

We are committed to working with partner organisations, players in the Nigerian startup ecosystem, and all other stakeholders to accelerate digital trade, enhance service exports, and operationalise the AfCFTA for increased intra-African trade.?

TIMELINE

Tuesday

I returned to Nigeria after productive engagements in Washington DC and San Francisco where I attended the Nigeria-U.S Strategic Technology Dialogue and paid a visit to the Nigeria Startup House.

Wednesday

I visited Dr. Jumoke Oduwole, the Honourable Minister of Industry, Trade & Investment in her office to discuss ways of leveraging the opportunities presented by programmes such as the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), National Talent Export Programme (NATEP), the National E-Commerce Policy & Strategy, the Digital Trade Desk and several other initiatives that both our ministries will be collaborating on in the coming months.

Back in my office, as part of setting our agenda for the year, I had an update meeting with my internal team to assess the status and progress of our programmes and initiatives towards achieving our goals as outlined in our Ministry’s Strategic Blueprint.

Later in the day I was a guest on ChannelsTV’s Politics Today where I addressed issues around ensuring the sustainability of Nigeria’s telecoms industry for the growth of our economy. The telecoms sector contributes significantly to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), directly employing over 15,000 people.

Thursday

I met with Engr. Sunday Oshadami, Executive Commissioner (Technical Services), Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to discuss preparations for the inaugural International Submarine Cable Resilience Summit organised by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). The Summit which is scheduled to hold in Abuja this February is organised in partnership with our Ministry.

Then I attended the High Level Roundtable on Nigeria’s Implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Protocols organised by the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade & Investment. There I highlighted the significant opportunity that AfCFTA presents for Nigeria’s businesses and tech startups.????

The Roundtable event was attended by Dr. Jumoke Oduwole, Honourable Minister of Industry, Trade & Investment; Sen. John Owan Enoh, Honourable Minister of State for Industry; and H.E. Wamkele Mene, Secretary General of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat.?

Following the roundtable , I met 7 tech startups including Moni Africa, Vendease Africa, Co-creation HUB (CcHUB), Renda Africa, Norebase, Helium Health and Bamboo – who attended the roundtable, to further engage and identify potential areas of support from my Ministry, especially as it relates to the AfCFTA.

My last engagement for the day was a feature on AriseTV Primetime to speak further on the sustainability of the telecoms sector, a a critical issue at this time as we plan for a review of Telecoms tariffs. On the show, I also spoke about the status of the Nigeria Startup House in San Francisco, California and our newly launched Digital Trade Desk to support local technology companies.?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Friday

I met with my team to receive briefing updates on the progress of our Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) initiative as we work towards the launch of our DPI policy standards document.

Next was a virtual meeting with Thani Mohamed-Soilihi, French Minister of State for Francophonie and Partnerships, attached to the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, to discuss Nigeria’s participation in the upcoming Artificial Intelligence (AI) Action Summit scheduled to take place in Paris in February.

BLUEPRINT FOCUS

Last week, a key focus was on the Trade pillar objective of our Strategic Blueprint as I had key meetings geared at leveraging the opportunity that the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) presents as we work to accelerate digital trade. I also met a number of Nigerian tech startups to identify potential areas of support from my Ministry, especially as it relates to AfCFTA.