WeekInReview: Full Week Recap of Activities of the Honourable Minister, Dr. ‘Bosun Tijani (Vol. 69)

Back to About Us > WeekInReview: Full Week Recap of Activities of the Honourable Minister, Dr. ‘Bosun Tijani (Vol. 69)

Posted on:

January 15, 2025

INTRO

The year has been off to a great start as the Honourable Minister engaged in a productive stakeholder session with key players in Nigeria’s telecoms sector towards ensuring its growth and sustainability. As a significant contributor to Nigeria’s GDP, the government must maintain constant engagements with operators in the industry towards ensuring increased investments and improved service quality in the sector.

The plan to increase broadband penetration across Nigeria also got a significant boost as the Ministry received a $2million grant from the U.S. government at the Nigeria-U.S Technology Dialogue for a feasibility study to assess the viability of deploying 90,000km of fibre-optic backbone infrastructure across Nigeria.

TIMELINE

Tuesday:

Dr. Tijani’s first official engagement in the year was a meeting with a team from KPMG Nigeria and SimmonsCooper Partners who presented an interim report on the sustainability of Nigeria’s telecoms sector. The report is part of the Ministry’s commitment to ensure we achieve our goal of providing internet access for every Nigerian. The Honourable Minister remains focused on finding a balance between the sustainability of the sector and ensuring the availability of meaningful connectivity for Nigerians. The delegation was led by Babatunde Irukera, Managing Partner, SimmonsCooper Partners and Ajibola Olomola, Partner, KPMG Nigeria.
Later in the day, Dr. Tijani featured on Tuesday Live, a Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) Network programme hosted by Cyril Stober, to speak on issues around sustainability of the telecoms sector in Nigeria.

Wednesday:

On Wednesday, the Honourable Minister led a stakeholder session with representatives of major Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) in Nigeria to discuss ways of achieving sustainability of the telecoms sector, and address issues around the push for increase in tariff by operators. As part of the discussions, all stakeholders reviewed the key recommendations of the interim report on the sustainability of the Nigerian telecoms sector which had been presented to Dr. Tijani earlier on Tuesday. At the meeting he also highlighted progress made in the Ministry’s efforts to partner with local and international stakeholders towards scaling Nigeria’s broadband infrastructure to achieve improved internet access for Nigerians. Present at the meeting were Dr. Aminu Maida, EVC/CEO, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and Permanent Secretary, Engr. Faruk Yusuf Yabo.
Following this stakeholder session, the Honourable Minister was a guest on Business Nigeria, a Television Continental (TVC) programme, where he reiterated the government’s commitment towards ensuring improved telecoms service quality even as the government provides a conducive business environment for increased investments in the sector.
He later had a meeting with my Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Engr. Faruk Yusuf Yabo and Postmaster General of Nigeria, Tola Odeyemi to discuss key issues relating to ongoing projects at NIPOST.
After this, he joined a virtual update call with representatives of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to discuss ongoing partnership with the Ministry.

Thursday:

The Honourable Minister travelled to Washington DC, United States to attend the Nigeria-U.S. Technology Dialogue.

Last week, the Honourable Minister’s activities focused on the Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Capital and Infrastructure pillar objectives of the Ministry’s Strategic Blueprint as he met with representatives of Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) in Nigeria to advance plans that will ensure the sustainability of the sector. He also attended the Nigeria-U.S. Technology Dialogue aimed at enhancing bilateral cooperation in critical technology sectors.

Friday:

On Friday, he led a Nigerian delegation, made up of public and private sector officials, to the Nigeria-U.S. Strategic Technology Dialogue, an engagement designed to enhance bilateral cooperation in critical technology sectors, and strengthen interagency collaboration and stakeholder engagement in both countries. The session was officially declared open by Kurt Campbell, United States Deputy Secretary of State, following which Dr. Tijani delivered his opening remarks. Conversations at the highly engaging event centred on infrastructure development, digital talent, and innovation and investments. Present at the session were Dr. Seth Center, Acting Special Envoy for Emerging and Critical Technologies, U.S. Department of State; Enoh T. Ebong, USTDA Director; Jennifer Bachus, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary (PDAS), Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy (CDP); and Joy Basu, Deputy Assistant Secretary (DAS), Bureau of African Affairs (AF). During the event, both countries signed a $2million grant from the USTDA for a feasibility study to assess the viability of the deployment of 90,000km of fibre-optic backbone infrastructure across Nigeria. The U.S supports Nigeria’s National Broadband Plan with the goal to ensure that at-least 90% of Nigeria’s population has access to affordable and reliable broadband coverage. The Nigerian Government delegation was then hosted to lunch by the Deputy Secretary of State, Kurt Campbell and other senior members of his team.
Later that afternoon, the full delegation attended the Nigeria-U.S. Tech Dialogue Industry Roundtable session organised by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s U.S.-Africa Business Center, in collaboration with the U.S. Department of State. The industry roundtable aims to incorporate the business community’s viewpoints into the dialogue to discuss the full scope of public-private technology cooperation across themes including Artificial Intelligence (AI), Digital Talent, Critical Infrastructure, and Innovation and Investment. Present at the session were Kendra Gaither, President, U.S.-Africa Business Center, U.S. Chamber of Commerce; Senator Afolabi Salisu, Chairman, Senate House Committee on ICT, Senate; Honourable Adedeji Olajide, Chairman, House Committee on ICT, House of Representative; Jane Egerton-Idehen, CEO, NigComSat; Bunmi Ajala, National Director, National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, NITDA; and Victoria Fabunmi, National Coordinator, Office for Nigerian Digital Innovation, NITDA. Members of the private sector who were part of the Nigerian Delegation include Babatunde Olofin, MD, Moniepoint; Eniola Edun, Co-founder, Awarri; Kazeem Oladepo, COO, IHS; Stanley Jegede, Executive Chairman, Phase 3; Ibrahim Dikko, CEO, Backbone Connectivity Network Limited; Temie Giwa Tunbosun, CEO, Lifebank; Amal Hassan, CEO, Outsource Global; Kendall Ananyi, CEO, Tizeti; and Joel Ogunsola, CEO, Tech4Dev.

Saturday:

The Honourable Minister visited the Nigeria Startup House in San Francisco in company of representatives of the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs from the Nigerian Embassy in Washington DC, including the Charge D’Affaires, Amb. Samson Itegboje. The visit was to assess the current state of the House as the Ministry finalises plans to revamp the facility and kickstart its operation.

Posted on:

January 15, 2025