The Minister of Communications, Dr. Isa Ali-Pantami has disclosed that within 45 days in office he had engineered the blacklisting of over nine million pre-registered SIM cards in circulation in the country.
The minister, who stated this on Thursday during a meeting with a delegation from the World Bank Group, in his office, said he had done what was hitherto impossible in the country for the past seven years.
He said: “The issue of improperly registered SIM Cards had been going on for the past seven years, but this time around, within 45 days, we were able to solve the menace.
“Most of the telecom operators were planning to see me, I refused to see them and directed them to get back on track first,” the minister pointed out.
During the meeting, Mr Pantami disclosed key areas his ministry intended to focus on.
According to him, the areas include: fostering a digital economy; promoting Indigenous technologies; e-government implementation; increased broadband penetration; digital job creation; digital literacy and effective ICT regulation.
Mr Pantami said: “Nigeria is blessed with an average youthful population of 18.5 years that are digital natives, as the Honourable Minister, under my watch, the Ministry will work round the clock to come up with policies that would promote the Nigerian youths and support a digital economy.”
DAILY NIGERIAN reports that the delegation from the World Bank Group was led by the Country Director (Nigeria), Shubham Chaudhuri.
The global partners were at the ministry to explore possible areas of collaboration aimed at eliminating global poverty and making efficient use of the Digital Space in Nigeria.
