Nigeria’s newly appointed Information and Communications Technology Minister, Ms. Omobola Johnson recently unveiled the ministry’s mandate at an interactive session with ICT journalists this past weekend.

The Minister unveiled the ministry’s mandate via a speech given at the session. View excerpts below.

Excerpts from Ms. Omobola Johnson’s speech on the ICT ministry’s mandate

The first mandate is providing access to communication infrastructure that includes a national fibre optic backbone for all Nigerians regardless of whether they are in rural, urban areas or not .

The second mandate that we have is to encourage the utilisation of this ICT infrastructure that will come about as a result of digital content, domestic software application, delivery of private and public services that include e-business and e-government.
The third mandate is to facilitate the development of the ICT and, in so doing, increase the contribution of the ICT industry to the GDP. It will help us to move away from a dependent resource economy to a more independent one on knowledge.
The fourth mandate, I would say, is external and the impact too is actually external and that is to leverage communication technology to increase the efficiency and cost effectiveness of public service delivery; that is what is popularly referred to as e-governance. There are very exciting mandates and they are also challenging and that is where we are.

Do you think the mandates address all issues of concern in Nigeria’s ICT sector?