Shittu, Stakeholders Head to Ibadan on Retreat

Mr. Adebayo Shittu, minister of Communications, National Assembly members, key Ministry officials, chief Executive Officers of NCC, NIGCOMSAT, NITDA, NIPOST, Galaxy Backbone Ltd and Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF), industry bigwigs and major stakeholders are set to storm Ibadan, the Oyo State capital this weekend to attend the 2016 Communications Sector Retreat.

The two-day retreat, according to a statement by Victor Oluwadamilare, minister’s Special Assistant on Media, with the theme: “Repositioning the Nigeria Communications Sector as the Key Driver of the Nigerian Economy”, is slated for the famous International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan and will be held between Friday 22 and Saturday 23, January 2016.

Shittu, in his avowed determination to reposition the Communications Sector in tandem with the Change Agenda of President Muhammadu Buhari, since assumption of duties as Minister of Communications, had embarked on various inquisitions and fact-finding exercises, the result of which culminated in the forthcoming retreat.

“It was discovered that considerable efforts made in the past to mainstream ICT into vital aspects of life in the country, have unfortunately been undermined by the lack of an integrated framework for utilization of ICT for socio-economic development.

“In the ensuing scenario, the Minister of Communications had to re-examine the status quo ante in order to formulate new strategies for doing things differently so as to fast track the realization of the vision of a new Nigeria, hence the all-inclusive retreat.

“Towards this end, the 2016 Communications Sector Retreat was designed to achieve among others: Define a Strategic Roadmap for Government on ICT; Provide a Common Platform for Sector Stakeholders to Share Common Vision for ICT development in Nigeria and to form a precursor for the Minister to unveil his vision for the ICT sector that will be beneficial to all,” the statement read,” Oluwadamilare added.

The fulcrum of the Minister’s new initiative are job creation, revenue generation, efficient service delivery and infrastructural development.

Some of the technical papers expected to be delivered by seasoned Nigerians and a couple of foreign technical experts include ICT Local Content and Innovation for Employment Generation; Accelerating Wealth and Job Creation in Nigeria through ICT Skills and Capacity Development; Economic Diversification: Increasing Government Revenue from the ICT Sector and Repositioning NIPOST for Enhanced Revenue Generation and Efficient Service Delivery.

Others are Creating Enabling Environment for ICT Development; Enhancing Policy Framework for Accelerated ICT Infrastructure Development and Leveraging on the e-Government Master Plan for Efficient, Effective and Transparent Governance.

The two-day retreat is expected to draw over 300 industry stakeholders and policy makers to the ancient City of Ibadan, the first of its kind in the history of the Ministry.

Shittu will deliver the keynote address, while Senator Abiola Ajimobi, governor of Oyo State, will declare the retreat open on Friday January 22, 2016 by 9.00am.