Dr. Isa Patami - Afrikan Heroes

Nigerian Communications Ministry Passes Startup Bill to Justice Ministry

November 4, 2021

The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy Dr. Isa Patami has passed the Nigeria Startup Bill to the Ministry of Justice for fine-tuning. The Startup Bill, a joint initiative between the Nigerian presidency and the Nigerian tech ecosystem aims to harness the potential of the country’s digital economy by providing startups with regulatory clarity, improved access to capital, and an enabling environment to support their growth and scalability.Drafting of the Bill commenced in July 2021 through a collection of inputs from several members of the ecosystem and government through a series of townhall meetings, webinars, and rallies.It could be recalled that the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami) had during a virtual Nigeria Startup Bill National Stakeholders Roundtable, a Pre-Summit event of the 27th Nigerian Economic Summit (NES) on Thursday, 14th October 2021 where he praised the efforts of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) for consistently generating opportunities for public-private sector dialogues on economic growth.He went ahead to stress the relevance of startups to Nigeria’s economic progress and the globe at large, and also noted that the Nigeria Startup Bill is a step in the right direction towards encouraging Nigerian entrepreneurs to develop and flourish.

Regarding the status of the Bill, the Minister said that the Bill is now in the hands of the Minister of Justice, and he is making significant efforts to guarantee that it receives favourable treatment from the National Assembly. “…I have communicated the progress we have made so far (with the Bill) to the office of the Attorney General of the Federation and the Minister of Justice so that they can support what we have been doing.”

“… I have sent a letter to him officially on behalf of all the stakeholders here, and on Monday, I engaged him physically so that we will be able to facilitate the Bill and get its approval as soon as possible,” he continued.In addition, the Minister reminded the stakeholders present that startups are not job seekers but employment producers. As such, the nation needs to discover new ways to establish a supportive framework for them to expand and scale, as this will inspire more individuals who are ready to think outside the box to come up with innovative ideas.“… we have people that can make this country very proud. What they need is for the government to provide an enabling environment for them.”He (Prof. Pantami) concluded the address by repeating his support for the Bill and pledged to continue to engage stakeholders to ensure that they support the Bill since it would serve as a turning point for the development of Nigeria’s digital economy.Meanwhile, support for the Bill has continued to gain traction. Last week, young people held rallies across the country showing support for the bill. Key stakeholders from the presidency and tech ecosystem are hoping the bill will get passed into law before the year runs out.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry

Low Broadband Penetration Hinders Tech Growth in Nigeria

September 1, 2020

Nigeria’s continued slow pace of broadband penetration is a stumbling block to take off of the tech sector and ancillary industries. In an age the Internet of Things (IoT) is changing the landscape of everything in sight, Nigeria, unfortunately is lagging behind its potential to lead in providing affordable and accessible broadband for its young and teeming population. This is inpite of the recorded leap 10 per cent in the last three years from an average growth of two per cent annually since the year 2000.

Speaking on the need to speed up broadband growth in the country, the Minister of Communications, Dr. Isa Patami said that the federal government remains committed to digitalising the Nigerian economy, saying the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated the need for the government to aggressively achieve a digital economy.

Pantami made this remark at the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria’s (CIBN), 2020 Graduates’ Induction/Prize Awards day, which was held virtually over the weekend. The CIBN inducted 1,311 new members and awarded the best performing students in its different professional certification categories.

Speaking on the feat recorded by his ministry, Pantami said: “In less than a year, when I came on board, the broadband penetration was a little higher than 30 per cent, from 2000 to 2019. But, by the end of July this year, broadband penetration was over 42 per cent. We achieved almost a 10 percent increase in less than a year. “With all sense of humility and modesty, before we came on board, the penetration annually was averagely less than two per cent. But this year alone, the penetration is 10 per cent which is highly unprecedented.”

He further said the growth of the digital economy was reliant on continuous innovation and entrepreneurship. “COVID-19 is clearly showing us why it is important to fast-track the digitalisation or rather the digital transformation of Nigeria. To drive the digital economy, there are two components that are key. One is digital innovation and digital entrepreneurship.” In her presentation, A Professor of Information Systems/Academic Director, Lagos Business, Prof. Olayinka David-West, noted that the digital economy was birthed alongside the information age and represents the levels of economic activity from digital connections between people, businesses and extending to devices, data and processes. According to her, such connections or interactions depend on the interconnectedness of people, organisations and machines facilitated by the internet, mobile technology and the internet of things (IoT).

“We have seen jobs transition from place to space, where work is not just a place we go to but an activity we carry out. Given that not all work is digitally enabled, the value of some roles in the organisation will be re-validated. An example of this is in the civil service, where workers below a certain grade have been away from work and unable to work for months.

“Digitally enabled work means that work activities or business processes are executed digitally (without paper) end-to-end (inter-departmental and inter-organisation). Related to this is that organisations are distributed and aggregating quality digital infrastructure at one location is inefficient because now, our homes are our workplaces and our organisations have to accommodate this shift.

“This also raises the issue of the digital tools we buy. Because our models have been place-based, desktops have dominated the workplace; but how portable are those desktops? Again this raises the dilemma of information security and data theft when organisational information is dispersed across machines. The digital infrastructure and tools deployed in our homes require hard infrastructure like electric power and housing conducive to home-based work,” David-West said.