Pantami Inaugurate The National Digital Economy Policy & Strategy Experts’ Review Committee

The Honourable Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Pantami has inaugurated the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy Experts’ Review Committee.

While inaugurating the Review Committee on Monday, 24th February 2020 at Bolton White Hotel, Abuja, Pantami urged the Committee to come up with a Roadmap based on the document and identify the desired outcome and include milestones needed to reach it.

The Terms of Reference for the Committee are as follows:

i. Review the Draft 2020-2030 NDEPS with special focus on the deliverables listed in the Policy and Strategy sections, as well as the grammatical constructs of the statements;

ii. Develop an effective implementation roadmap;

iii. Create a Responsibility Assignment Matrix; and

iv. Outline a robust monitoring strategy with a clear feedback mechanism.

It will be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari unveiled and launched the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy for a Digital Nigeria on the 28th of November, 2019.

According to Pantami, the Policy and Strategy are based on the following 8 pillars:

1. Developmental Regulation;

2. Digital Literacy and Skills;

3. Solid Infrastructure;

4. Service Infrastructure;

5. Digital Services Development and Promotion;

6. Soft Infrastructure;

7. Digital Society and Emerging Technologies; and

8. Indigenous Content Development and Adoption.

“The development of the Nigerian Digital Economy will also have a multiplier effect on the level of development of the traditional economy. It will enable Nigeria to get a slice of the Global Digital Economy, which Oxford Economics values at $11.5 trillion dollars or approximately 16% of the Global Economy. This value is expected to grow significantly over the coming years. The World Economic Forum predicts that over 60% of global GDP will be digitized by 2022 and that over the next decade, digital platforms will be used to create close to 70% of new value, Pantami said

The statement read,”This Expert Review Committee has been carefully selected from a pool of tech savvy Nigerians. Your selection is a reflection of the level of confidence that we have in you to carry out this very important national assignment.

“You are expected to come up with a Roadmap based on the document. It should identify the desired outcome and include milestones needed to reach it. We have identified a number of Stakeholders that are critical to the successful implementation of NDEPS and we expect this Committee to propose the assignment of responsibilities to them based on the mandate, expertise and track record.

“We appreciate the fact that no Policy or Strategy document implements itself and we know the level of monitoring and feedback makes all the difference in the potential success of the implementation process.

“To this end, the Committee is expected to come up with novel and feasible approaches to the monitoring and feedback of the different aspects of the NDEPS in ways that are seamless and easy to assess. We are confident in your ability to undertake this task and urge you to give it the level of commitment that it deserves.

Prof. Mohammed Abubakar, Managing Director, Galaxy Backbone (GBB) congratulated Pantami for coming up with such development that would help digital economy in the country and urged the committee not to take their duties lightly.

He also said that six of the pillars had to do with the GBB as it was part of the agency’s mandate to provide Information Communications Technology (ICT) infrastructure for the pillars to be achieved and for the actualisation of a digital Nigeria.


Earlier, the Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Pro. Umar Danbatta, wished the committee a good deliberation during their discussions.

The National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy Experts’ Review Committee’s deliberations comes to an end on Tuesday, 25th February 2020.