Mrs. Omobola Johnson, minister of Communications Technology, has urged state governments to set up dedicated institutional frameworks for coordinating ICT at state government levels.
Johnson who stated this in her keynote address at the just concluded second meeting of the National Council on Communication Technology (NCCT) in Akure, Ondo State, also acknowledged the steps taken by some state governments in leveraging ICT for social and economic development.
To guarantee sustainability of these initiatives and ensure that they transcend different administrations, she suggested that states have dedicated institutional framework for coordinating ICT at state government levels..
She noted the strategic importance of the NCCT towards facilitating inter-governmental consultations on ICT matter and said that in that in the process of time, procedure of the Council will be streamlined along the line of similar sector Councils and would be held twice a year.
The meeting drew commissioners and officials of ICT, Science and Technology and other related areas from 22 States of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as well as representatives from many other Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) including the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF), Ministries of Health, Foreign Affairs, Interior, Power, Agriculture, Environment, Police Affairs, National Planning Commission, Lands & Housing, Trade & Investment e.t.c also attended.
Other dignitaries present at the meeting include: Oyetunde Ojo, chairman, House Committee on Communication; Hon. Dairo, representative of the Speaker of the Ondo State House of Assembly; other National Assembly Committee Members; Presidents of Nigeria Computer Society (NCS), Association of Licenced Telecomm Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Computer Registration Council of Nigeria and Executives and Captains in the ICT private sector/industry.
Some of the recommendations at the meeting are : i. That there should be an effective coordination between States Governments and Federal Ministry of Communication Technology for programme interface.
ii. A comprehensive framework for application of ICT to all sectors of the economy be developed and state governments would domesticate the framework.
iii. State governments be encouraged to commence the immediate implementation of NEC’s decision on Multiple taxation and levies by the issuance of Executive Order and ensure strict adherence to its implementation.
iv. State governments be encouraged to, as part of Executive Order, ensure that all access to telecom infrastructure by states and Local Government operatives would require the consent of the Executive Governors as part of the measures for protecting them as critical national infrastructure.
v. State governments be encouraged to take necessary policy action on the implementation of relevant aspects of the Nigeria’s National Broadband Plan.
vi. A collaborative framework to stem irregular/illegal use of radio frequency resource in Nigeria should be developed
vii. State governments should collaborate with NIPOST in building of post offices in local communities within their states to enable NIPOST to provide financial and ICT services.
viii. Council commended the Hon. Minister, Mrs. Omobola Johnson for her commitment and hard work in moving the ICT sector forward in her two (2) years of being in office as the Hon. Minister.