Minister's Week In Review

This week’s (December 4 – December 8, 2023) recap of the activities of Dr. ‘Bosun Tijani, Honourable Minister for Communications, Innovation & Digital Economy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Monday

Over the weekend, I was in Lagos to attend the Fund it Forward season finale organised by ChannelsTV. I also attended a Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL) match between Sporting Lagos and Katsina United at Onikan Stadium.

Later on Sunday, I was a guest at a dinner event organised by technology entrepreneur Leo-Stan Ekeh to celebrate staff, partners, and stakeholders of TD Africa. My remarks at the event centred on the importance of entrepreneurs such as Mr. Ekeh in accelerating the growth of the Nigerian economy.

Following a busy weekend, I returned to Abuja, where I spent a full day on Monday receiving briefings from my team and reviewing ongoing projects and initiatives.

Tuesday

My first activity for the day was to preside over a meeting with the Directors of my Ministry to catch up on their plans and activities while also proposing ways to improve staff welfare and boost overall productivity.

Following this meeting, I hosted the Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Aminu Maida and his team in my office. Our discussions focused on improving the quality of telecommunications services for end-users benefit and the imperative of driving fibre-optic roll-out across the country.

I then met with the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Director in the Ministry, Samuel Okoye and the Director of Radio Monitoring & Survey (RM&S), Chidi Enwerem, to review our plan to set up a sandbox for ISM Radio Band in Nigeria.

Later, I had a joint meeting with Dr. Maida and the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF) Secretary, Yomi Arowosafe, to discuss key strategic objectives.

After this, I hosted the Sokoto State Commissioner for Innovation and Digital Economy, Hon. Bashar Umar Kwabo, Permanent Secretary, Dr Nasir Daniya, and other team members at my office. We spoke extensively on areas of collaboration towards creating more opportunities for citizens to participate in the digital economy.

I later appeared on the ChannelsTV programme, Politics Today, anchored by Seun Okinbaloye. The interview focused on our achievements in my first 100 days in office. I spoke about the Ministry’s Strategic Blueprint and spotlighted its key components related to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.

Wednesday

I met with the Directors of the Ministry to discuss the duties and activities of the National Frequency Management Council (NFMC) and the National Rural Telephony Project.

I then received a joint team from NCC and NITDA to discuss the National Child Online Protection Policy. The policy's key objective is to set out principles, initiatives, action plan and implementation roadmap in line with the protection of children in an online environment. The National Child Online Protection Policy was approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on January 25, 2023.

Later, I hosted a delegation from the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) led by its Country Lead, Lamin Barrow. We discussed the finer points of the Investment in Digital and Creative Enterprises (I-DICE) Programme, which will provide over $600 million in funding to promote entrepreneurship and innovation in the digital and creative economy, especially for young people.

Following this meeting was another high-level engagement with the United States Department of State Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary (PDAS) for Arms Stability, Paul Dean. The meeting centred on exchanging best practices and building mutual capacity for accelerated development.

My final official engagement for the day was a meeting with the Turkish Ambassador to Nigeria, H.E. Hidayet Bayraktar. We discussed investment opportunities in Nigeria and Turkey’s plan to adopt Nigeria as a hub for its African projects.

Thursday

I travelled to Lagos to attend the Art of Technology Lagos 5.0 event, The Creative Economy and a Digital Lagos. There, the Lagos State Governor, H.E. Babajide Sanwoolu, acknowledged my antecedents in the technology innovation sector while stressing the importance of partnership between the state and federal governments to boost the creative industry by leveraging the power of technology.

Before heading back to Abuja, I had a virtual call with representatives of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. It was a follow-up meeting on previous engagements focusing on exploring areas of collaboration between the Ministry and the Foundation.

My last engagement of the day on my return to Abuja, was a courtesy visit by a delegation from Sterling Bank’s Alternative Bank. Led by Jerry Sawyer, the team outlined their ongoing programmes to support the growth of small businesses across the country, then shared ideas on how they propose to support the Ministry’s programmes, such as the 3 Million Technical Talent (3MTT) initiative.

Friday

I had an early morning engagement with the team from Canji Projects. The team solicited my support on some of their projects to grow the Nigerian economy through agricultural innovation.

I then attended the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF) Ministerial Retreat in Abuja. The event, which had in attendance the Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr Aminu Maida, and Secretary of the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF), Yomi Arowosafe, was organised to outline strategies for achieving digital innovation and inclusion in Nigeria.

Subsequently, I met with the Director of Procurement in my Ministry, Barr. Margaret Ene Ebute to review measures taken so far to improve staff welfare amongst other key issues.

I later made a surprise appearance on the My Career in Tech YouTube Live session featuring 3 Million Technical Talent (3MTT) fellows from across Nigeria sharing their experience after one week of virtual classes. The Live session, which has so far received over 100k views, can be accessed on the FMCIDE Nigeria YouTube page.