Week In Review

This week’s (October 2 – October 6, 2023) recap of the activities of Dr. ‘Bosun Tijani, Honourable Minister for Communications, Innovation & Digital Economy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

This has been a significant week for me at the Ministry. In taking up this role, I have been clear about approaching this with a sense of careful planning, efficiency, open communication and accountability. In this light and following extensive engagement with internal and external stakeholders, I was pleased to release our Strategic Blueprint that will guide our plans for the next 4 years earlier this week. I am grateful for all the feedback received so far and particularly excited about the early commitments from partners who will be working with us as we transition into execution mode.

Here’s a recap of my week.

Monday

After weeks of rigorous work developing the Strategic Blueprint of the Ministry of Communications, Innovation & Digital Economy, we launched the document which outlines the five pillars that underscores our roadmap for the Ministry namely Knowledge, Policy, Infrastructure, Innovation, Entrepreneurship & Capital, and Trade.

The Strategic Blueprint which is in alignment with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda sets the tone for our work over the next 4 years.

I also had the privilege of speaking at The Platform in Lagos, hosted by Pastor Poju Oyemade of the Covenant Christian Centre (CCC). At the event, organised to facilitate discourse in the areas of capacity building, productivity and national development, I was able to elucidate the content of the Ministry’s Strategic Blueprint, specifically speaking to the various activities contributing to our national GDP and the resulting need for diversity in our economy. I spoke about the need for Nigerians to align towards the successful implementation of the Blueprint by raising the level of productivity across key sectors.

Tuesday

My day started with a virtual meeting with the World Economic Forum (WEF) team. The conversation focused on plans to maximise Nigeria’s participation at the next WEF and the process of setting up a Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) in Nigeria. The 4IR centre is a WEF initiative that helps partners harness the full benefits of advancements in technology for equitable and human-centred transformation of society.

With the public release of our Strategic Blueprint, the team and I had an extensive session with to highlight key areas of engagements, collaborations and partnerships as we get to the work of operationalising the Blueprint. I was pleased to see that Blueprint document has received wide acclaim and support among local and international stakeholders and we are taking all feedback on board.

We later took some time to bond over dinner as a team, after a few weeks of intense planning and activity.

Wednesday

One critical piece of our plans is the innovative use of spaces in our Knowledge pillar and I started the day by joining the team in a productive ideation session to determine the optimal use of government-owned digital spaces across the country for the benefit of all Nigerians. Our session incorporated inputs from previous engagement with industry stakeholders and feedback mined from online sources.

Immediately after this, I was pleased to host members of the Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) in my office. The ALTON delegation, led by its Chairman, Engr. Gbenga Adebayo, remain key partners in our plans to deliver on the Ministry’s overall agenda, specifically with respect to a number of objectives covered in the Infrastructure and Knowledge pillars of the Strategic Blueprint. We also had very useful discussions on several issues, including Quality of Service and immediate actions to ensure increased efficiency in the telecoms sector.

I wrapped up the day with a meeting with the European External Action Service delegation from the European Commission led by Deputy Secretary General, Helena Koenig, and the EU Ambassador to Nigeria & ECOWAS, Samuela Isopi. We discussed the upcoming EU-Nigeria Summit, particularly the Digital Economy Package 2021-2024 which addresses opportunities for investment and collaboration around Nigeria’s digitalisation efforts in governance and public services.

Thursday

The day started with a meeting with representatives of Schneider Electric and our discussions centred on their work in Nigeria in the areas of Renewable Energy, Smart Cities, Cyber Security, Artificial Intelligence amongst others. In alignment with the Knowledge pillar from the Strategic Blueprint, Schneider agreed to work with us to leverage their university platform and content to offer more training and skills development opportunities for Nigerians.

Right after, I attended the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) Digital Literacy dialogue where I spoke on the importance of digital technologies in raising the quality of lives of citizens. I charged participants to prioritise inclusion in their deliberations as a critical part of ensuring that no one is left behind in our efforts to achieve our digital literacy goals.

Following this event, I met with the Microsoft Nigeria Executive team in my office led by Country Director, Mrs. Ola Williams. The team highlighted its contribution to the growth of digital technology in Nigeria through the years, including their digital skills training initiative for over 1,700 champions within the Civil Service. We agreed to accelerate the delivery of a number of Microsoft Nigeria’s critical projects including their digital hubs which they are committed to delivering.

As part of efforts to ensure the vision to grow Nigeria’s digital economy cascades to subnational governments, I met with a number of state repreresentatives. First, I met with the Edo State Commissioner for Digital Economy, Science and Technology, Hon. Ogbeide Ifaluyi-Isibor and discussed aligning the Ministry’s objectives with Edo State’s immediate actions over the next 12 months in the Digital Economy sector.

Next, I received the Lagos State Commissioner for Innovation, Science and Technology, Olatunbosun Alake and the head of Eko Innovation, Victor Afolabi in my office in the afternoon. We discussed various areas of collaboration between the Ministry and the Lagos State Government and agreement on next steps.

Wrapping up a long day, I headed to Lagos and spent the evening at a dinner with the Deputy High Commissioner, British High Commission, Jonny Baxter and Director General, Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, Kumar Iyer. The engagement presented an opportunity to affirm ties between Nigeria and the UK, and also to discuss the upcoming Al Summit scheduled for November 2023.

Friday

Returning to Abuja, I started off my day by hosting a team from IHS in my office. Discussions at the meeting centered on plans to achieve Nigeria’s broadband targets and the IHS team used the opportunity to highlight their work in supporting the growth of the digital economy. They also outlined their commitment to supporting the delivery of the Ministry’s goals, particularly with respect to the Knowledge pillar of the Blueprint.

I later hosted the local committee of the Smart Africa Alliance who shared their strategic initiatives targeted at job creation and economic growth across Africa. We discussed the committee’s proposed flagship initiative and the upcoming Ministerial meeting scheduled for Kigali next week. Nigeria has recently joined the Smart Africa Alliance which is an innovative commitment from African Heads of State and Government to accelerate sustainable socio-economic development on the continent.

I wrapped up my meetings for the week with the Nigerian Communications Satellite Ltd. (NigComSat) team to discuss key targets and a number of critical issues as part of plans to actualise the goal of growing Nigeria's digital economy.

On the back of a busy week, I also aligned with my team around our approach to tracking our weekly progress for the deliverables in the Strategic Blueprint as well as reviewing initial feedback from various stakeholders.

As we get on with the challenge of implementing our plans, I hope to be able to continue to engage further to secure support and partnerships, even as we are committed to communicating our progress in the months ahead.

I look forward to your continued support.