Minister’s Week In Review

Recap (January 27 – 31, 2025) of the activities of Dr. ‘Bosun Tijani, Honourable Minister for Communications, Innovation & Digital Economy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

INTRO?

My team and I continue to maintain laser focus on the digital trade component of our delivery strategy as we progress on our journey to make Nigeria a $1trillion economy. This informed a number of our engagements, including a bilateral meeting with trade facilitators from Brazil, a country which hosts some operations of IHS Towers, a Nigerian based globally recognised communications infrastructure company.

We will continue to engage with countries who share our vision of leveraging innovation and technology to facilitate holistic growth for our shared prosperity.?

TIMELINE

Monday

To start the week, I received a briefing from Jane Egerton-Idehen, MD/CEO, Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited (NIGCOMSAT), on the Nigeria Defence Space Council meeting scheduled for later in the week.

After this briefing session, I had separate internal meetings on the progress of our Fibre Fund and Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) initiatives. The Fibre Fund project will facilitate the deployment of 90,000km of fibre-optics cable network across Nigeria, while DPI will enable us to deliver quality public service to the people.

Following my meeting last week, where I received a briefing on Nigeria’s participation at the 2025 World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), I inaugurated a committee made up of key professionals under my Ministry to coordinate our participation and ensure that Nigeria is adequately showcased at the global Summit. The WSIS is scheduled to take place this July in Geneva, Switzerland.

Tuesday

My first meeting on Tuesday was a with representatives of the Brazilian Trade Promotion and Investment Attraction Agency - ApexBrasil and SEBRAE - the Brazilian Support Service for Micro and Small Enterprises, led by Jorge Viana, President of ApexBrasil, and the Brazilian Ambassador to Nigeria H.E. Carlos Gacete.

At the meeting, we had conversations on digital trade between Nigeria and Brazil, and the need for bilateral cooperation as leaders among global south countries, to leverage Artificial Intelligence (AI) for development.

Following this meeting, I received a courtesy call from Air Vice Marshal Lanre Ibrahim Oluwatoyin, Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Space Administration. Present at the meeting was Jane Egerton-Idehen, MD/CEO, Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited (NIGCOMSAT).

I then had a meeting with representatives of Eutelsat led by Country Manager (West Africa), Modupe Okeowo. Our discussions centred around their work in providing Rural Community WiFi, which is aimed at making available internet connectivity to unserved and underserved communities in Nigeria. The meeting was attended by Jane Egerton-Idehen, MD/CEO, Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited (NIGCOMSAT).

I received Prof. Ibrahim Adeyanju, MD/CEO Galaxy Backbone Limited, in my office to discuss updates and plans regarding critical initiatives relating to the agency.?

My last meeting for the day was with Tomide Akinribido, the Senior Special Assistant on ICT to the Ondo State Governor, H.E Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa, in my office. We explored areas in which my Ministry can support the State Government in delivering on its digital transformation goals.

Wednesday

I had a productive meeting with Kofo Akinkugbe, Founder and CEO, SecureID to discuss opportunities for collaboration with the smartcard solutions company.?

Thursday

I received updates from representatives of United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) in my capacity as a Member of the Board of the global organisation. The updates focused on capacity building, innovation, and youth development in Nigeria.

The Nigeria office of the organisation will be joining its 33 International Training Centres for Authorities and Leaders (CIFALs), which are dedicated to building capacity in thematic areas such as technology and sustainability.?

The UNITAR team which was led by Dr. Ebru Canan Sokullu, Deputy Director, UNITAR HQ, Geneva, also had Daniel Nazarov, Senior Program Manager, UNITAR HQ; Ihuoma Njemanze, Director, CIFAL Nigeria; and Pamaro Wolugbom, Senior Admin Manager, CIFAL Nigeria.

Following this meeting, I attended the meeting of the Defence Space Administration Governing Council.??????

Next was an update meeting on plans for the launch event of the National Broadband Alliance for Nigeria (NBAN), an initiative targeted at boosting broadband development in Nigeria. The event is scheduled to take place in Lagos on February 5, 2025.???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Friday

On Friday, I spent the day receiving updates from my internal team on the status of a number of initiatives and projects including the Fibre Fund project, ITU Subsea Cable Summit preparations, amongst others.

BLUEPRINT REVIEW

Last week, my activities focused on the Trade pillar objective of our Strategic Blueprint as I held a meeting with representatives of the Brazilian Trade Promotion and Investment Attraction Agency - ApexBrasil and SEBRAE - with a view to improving trade relations with the South American country, and also to cooperate and share knowledge in the use of GovTech to improve government services as we build on our digital transformation efforts.