The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali-Pantami, has commended President Muhammadu Buhari for approving N5billion as capital budget for the National Identity Management Commission, NIMC.
Dr Pantami made the commendation on Tuesday during the unveiling of the National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA, Employee-Centric Condition and Scheme of Service documents in Abuja.
According to the minister, the upward review of the capital budget of the NIMC from between 500 to 700 million in the previous years to about N5 billion this year is a testimony to Mr Buhari’s commitment to actualising a digital Nigeria.
He said: “We are grateful for His Excellency’s support and the confidence he has reposed in us.
“We are doing our best to justify this confidence by ensuring that our initiatives support the programmes of the Government,” Mr Pantami said.
“The 2020 Fourth Quarter (Q4 2020) Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Report recently released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that our modest efforts are yielding positive results; this reflected in the significant growth experienced by the ICT Sector.
“The Report indicated that the ICT sector recorded a 14.7% growth rate, making it the sector with the highest growth rate. The growth rate of the ICT sector was over 4 times the growth rate of the Agriculture sector, which was the sector with the second-highest growth rate.”
He explained that the Scheme of Service would serve as a tool for making NITDA more functional as it develops into becoming one of the most strategic government institutions in Nigeria.
He said the documents provided the approved status for the agency and specifies the skills and certifications required for appointment and promotion, stressing that the Scheme identifies 15 different cadres for the Agency.
The Minister said NIMC and NIPOST would be supported by the Federal Government to enable them to carry out their critical and statutory functions which would boost national Identity and security and promote a digital economy.
He noted that Conditions of Service is to re-engineer the operations and structure of government agencies with the aim of providing an enabling environment for effective strategy development and execution.
“This will match the global industry requirements that are needed to develop and regulate the innovative and agile digital economy industry.
“We are committed to attracting and retaining highly skilled and highly motivated personnel in the Digital Economy sector, including all the parastatals under our supervision,” the Minister added.
