President Muhammadu Buhari, on Wednesday, ordered the Presidential Council on Digital Economy and e-government to develop a framework for the harmonisation and digitisation of e-government initiatives at both federal and state levels.

Buhari, who is the chairman of the council, gave the order at the inaugural meeting of the council in Abuja.

The President, who was represented by the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, noted there have been pockets of digital initiatives going on at the state levels without accruing to the Federal Government’s initiatives.

He recalled launching the National Digital Economy and Policy Strategy (NDEPS) in November 2019 with eight pillars which required the involvement of actors at all levels.

The President said digital economy cannot be implemented in silos with FG bearing the responsibility, adding that states, sub-nationals have a significant role to play in ensuring the achievement of NDEPS.

“Many important things have been discussed and we have agreed on all of them and it is because of this we plan to have another meeting as soon as possible.

“The secretariat has been directed to come up with frameworks for the digital economy, that can be implemented in our states.

“Many states have good initiatives on digital economy, however there is lack of harmonisation to their activities.

“A framework is going to be developed so that our sub-nationals will play their own role and FG will continue to provide intervention where necessary,” he said.

Buhari further stated that since the establishment of the NDEPS, a lot has been achieved, while 70 per cent achievement has been recorded on some of the pillars.

The President, however, said there were pending issues that requires engaging the sub-nationals to look at decision making, implementation, coming up with frameworks, getting their input on regulations and more.

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Part of the issues also discussed at the meeting included the establishment of the Ministry of Digital Economy in states to cascade and implement activities from the national level.

“Hopefully, before the end of the year many positive things will come up from the council,” he said.

President Buhari said after the launching of the policy, the ICT sector contributions to the Gross Domestic Product of the country have increased significantly.

“The sector alone, without involving digital services, contributed 17.9 per cent which is unprecedented in the history of Nigeria.

“With the accommodation of our Governors and sub-nationals, I believe many positive things should come out of the sector,” he added.

The Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa, requested the chairman to set up a sub-committee to look at thematic areas for the implementation of the NDEPS.

Inuwa also requested for the ratification of the terms of reference for the council.

Pillars of NDEPS are developmental regulation, digital literacy and skills, solid infrastructure, service infrastructure, digital services, and development promotion.

Others are soft infrastructure, digital society and emerging technologies, and indigenous content promotion and adoption.

The members of the council include governors, one each from the six geopolitical zones of the country.

They are Godwin Obaseki of Edo State for South-South and Hope Uzodinma of Imo State for South-East.

Other governors are Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State for South-West, Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa for North-Central, Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna for North-West, and Muhammad Yahaya of Gombe State for North-East.

Other council members are Vice Chancellors of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State and Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Imo State, Telecom operators, and Minister of Industry, Trade and Investments, among others.

The presidential council was launched to strengthen the capacity of the government, to develop, adopt and deploy digital technologies to make government more efficient and transparent.

The council is also to ensure the improvement of Nigeria’s global standing in the ease of doing business index.

The Star