Shittu, New NITDA Boss Meet

Barrister Abdur-Raheem Adebayo Shittu, Minister of Communications, played host to the newly appointed Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, in his office yesterday.

In the company of the DG were Malam Nafiu Baba-Ahmed and Alhaji Shehu B. Umar.

NITDA, an agency under the Ministry Communications, was established to foster the development and growth of information technology in Nigeria.

Following the suspension of the former DG, Mr. Peter Jack on January 20, 2016, and his eventual sack by the Federal Government, one of the directors in the agency, Dr. Vincent Olatunji was appointed the acting DG pending the appointment of a substantive DG.

As part of its efforts to re-energize the MDAs, the Federal Government on Monday September 26, 2016 announced a new DG for NITDA and 12 others MDAs.

An Associate Professor of Computer Information System at the Islamic University of Madinah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Dr. Pantami is the first Nigerian ever to teach in the university of more than 63 years of existence.

He was born and grew up in Gombe State, Nigeria where he obtained his basic education. He completed his first degree in Computer Science in 2002 at Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi (ATBA), Master of Science (MSC), Computer Science 2008, Master of Business Admin (MBA) Technology in 2010 from the same university and he obtained his PhD in the United Kingdom.

He was a lecturer at ATBU, Bauchi, for more than a decade before joining Islamic University Madina as Assistant Professor in Computing Systems & Information Technology.

He has authored many books on ICT, STEM, Technology, Politics & Community Reconciliation & Religion.

The new NITDA boss has taken over from Dr. Vincent Olatunji, the Acting Director General of the agency.