#WeekInReview: Full Week Recap of Activities of the Honourable Minister, Dr. ‘Bosun Tijani

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Posted on:

March 10, 2024

INTRO

Last week, the Honourable Minister celebrated the exemplary group of women who play significant roles in the Ministry of Communications, Innovation & Digital Economy, in making Nigeria a better place as he marked International Women’s Day (#IWD2024). In a series of messages, Dr. Tijani emphasised the impact and importance of gender inclusion as we work towards reimagining a better future for our nation.

He held engagements in Washington DC with global partners, including the World Bank, to explore active steps towards providing broadband connectivity for unserved and underserved communities across Nigeria.

FOCUS AREAS THIS WEEK

Broadband for All: Facilitating internet access for unserved and underserved communities was a major focus of the Honourable Minister as he engaged participants at the World Bank-organised Global Digital Summit on promoting digital inclusion by providing access to affordable internet. He further engaged senior World Bank executives to draw the development bank’s commitment towards enhancing technical efficiency and ensuring broadband access for all.

Inclusion: Last week, with the celebration of women all over the world, the Honourable Minister was keen to highlight the important role of women in his Ministry, as well as their potential impact when empowered through programmes such as the 3 Million Technical Talent (3MTT).

TIMELINE OF ENGAGEMENTS

Monday:

Dr. ‘Bosun Tijani travelled to Washington DC, United States of America to attend the inaugural Global Digital Summit organised by the World Bank Group. The Summit brings together government officials, private sector, partner organisations and thought leaders to explore opportunities and risks, around the shared goal of accelerating digital for development.
The Honourable Minister also highlighted the importance of the month of March in celebrating women as he spoke about the partnership between the Ministry’s 3MTT initiative and HerTechHub which is geared at rewarding women within the 3MTT community. HerTechHub is an initiative of Engr. Fatima Abubakar-Faruk, the Special Assistant on Women Affairs to the President.

Tuesday:

Dr. ‘Bosun Tijani started his day with a meeting with Project Kuiper representatives at the Amazon Web Services (AWS) headquarters to discuss areas of support and opportunities for collaboration ahead of the upcoming launch of their satellite in Nigeria.
He then engaged with a team from Amazon Web Services (AWS) to explore possible partnership opportunities, with particular focus on AI infrastructure.
After his meetings at AWS, the Honourable Minister proceeded to the World Bank Global Digital Summit, where he started his participation by attending a session on the role of AI in Cybersecurity. The conversations in this panel focused on how developing countries could better protect their Digital Ecosystems.
Dr. Tijani’s next session at the summit was as a speaker on a panel themed, ‘Shaping a Decade of Digital Inclusion: Access, Affordability, and Internet for All’. He emphasised the need for stakeholders to see the digital divide in Africa as an opportunity for investment while outlining Nigeria’s strong position to contribute to global productivity and bridge the global technology workforce gap due to its large youth population.

Wednesday:

The Honourable Minister spent the day in various sessions before joining a panel at the closing plenary of the Summit with the theme: ‘A World Transformed: Key Scenarios for our Digital Future’. At the panel session, which was moderated by Guangzhe Chen, World Bank Vice President for Infrastructure, the Honourable Minister reiterated some of his earlier thoughts at the summit, specifically on the urgent need to accelerate investment in the digital backbone of Nigeria’s economy. Dr. Tijani also shared Nigeria’s progress in AI, technical talent development and bridging the data consumption gap.
Dr.Tijani’s final engagement of the day was a visit to the US Chamber of Commerce to discuss plans towards growing Nigeria’s digital economy. The Chamber shared possible areas of collaboration in Cybersecurity and investments in Nigeria’s digital ecosystem in alignment with their internal review of the Ministry’s Strategic Blueprint.

Last week, the Honourable Minister’s was fully focused on the Infrastructure pillar objectives of his Strategic Blueprint, as he held several engagements at the World Bank-organised Global Digital Summit in Washington DC, as well as meetings with senior officials of the World Bank and other partners.

Thursday:

On Thursday, Dr. Tijani participated in an extensive co-creation workshop at the World Bank to expand ongoing engagements and secure support towards deepening Nigeria’s national backbone and middle mile infrastructure. The session, which was organised by the World Bank, had experts from the Bank, the IFC and other consultants in attendance, and a number of key next steps aligned with building for Nigeria’s specific realities were agreed upon.
After the workshop, the Honourable Minister met with senior World Bank officials including Guangzhe Chen, Vice President for Infrastructure, and Christine Zhenwei Qiang, Director of Digital Development, to discuss the Strategic Blueprint and the urgent need for partnerships towards delivering on our agenda. They expressed the World Bank’s commitment to supporting our vision through partnerships and initiatives focused on enhancing technical efficiency and ensuring broadband access for all.

Friday:

The Honourable Minister released a goodwill message to commemorate this year’s International Women’s Day themed ‘Inspire Inclusion’. While showcasing the depth of female leaders in the Ministry, he highlighted the need to promote gender inclusion, not only in the workplace but in our society as a whole and giving women the opportunity to make impact.
He shared updates on the Project 774 LG Connectivity initiative as it expands across the country, with the latest installations by the NigComSat and Galaxy Backbone teams in several locations in Kogi State.
In relation to that, Dr. Tijani held a meeting with the Director General of NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi to accelerate plans to support the effective implementation of Project 774 LG. NITDA, through its Digital Literacy intervention, will be providing computer equipment and training support for staff of the LGA councils as well as citizens in each LG.

Posted on:

March 10, 2024