President Mohammadu Buhari has directed the Ministry Communications and Digital Economy to organize virtual National Economic Council (NEC) meeting in line with Digital Nigeria.

The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami made this known while commissioning 12 digital projects built by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA, and other agencies under the ministry.

The Minister said the presidential directive came after the 12th Virtual Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting also introduced by the Ministry since the COVID-19 pandemic:

 “President Buhari has directed the Ministry to organize NEC meeting after the 12th FEC virtual meeting. It is our challenge that a significant percentage of our citizens are provided with digital skills.’’

Pantami also said that the commissioning of the 12 digital projects was in compliance with the directives by President Muhammadu Buhari to actualize his change agenda adding that the project commissioning was aimed at bringing to the knowledge of Nigerians the existence of such projects in their localities and part of the measures put together by the administration to render an account of the management of its resources.

 The minister explained that the projects which are scattered all over the country capture every geo-political zone in the country, the 36 states, and the FCT. He said:

‘‘There is no state without at least three projects with maintenance and sustainable plans already in place. The digital commissioning has proven to be the positive part of the COVID-19 pandemic as multiple projects were commissioned simultaneously at different locations in the country.’’

Dwelling on the importance of the commissioned projects, the minister said by automating transactions and other services, a significant percentage of corruption will be done away with in alignment with the Digital Nigeria agenda.

Meanwhile, the Jigawa State Governor, Mohammadu Abubakar has stated that Nigerians should no longer blame President Muhammdu Buhari‘s administration for the current scarcity of foreign exchange, as the problem was traceable to the fact that Nigeria “ Is a Chronic Importer”.

The governor who insisted that President Muhammadu Buhari should not be blamed for the hardship in the country and the high cost of food items and other goods in the market, claimed that the previous administrations failed to create a buffer for the preservation of naira against the dollar, hence the scarcity of dollar in the money market and the rising cost of goods. He buttressed his points thus,

 ‘‘In the last five years of the previous administration, oil was averaged at $100 per barrel, our five years probably $50 per barrel on average. At least with half of the resources available to Mohammadu Buhari, we have achieved a lot.

 ‘‘The ministry of aviation has completed 150 projects in four years and still counting with half of the resources so is the same story in other ministries. Today, we can proudly say, five years of Buhari administration and five years of previous administration if analyzed, I am sure it will be confirmed that we have done well with lesser resources available.

 ‘‘In trade and investment, we are increasing our non-oil export by the day, a good strategy. And again our Ease of Doing Business, we are improving in the ranking, so many industries are coming up. In my state alone, we have seen an industrial revolution for export substitution. If we take the statistics and compare them with the last five years, I am sure we will see the government of President Muhammadu Buhari has done very well.

‘‘The ministry of works is constructing about 500 roads, many projects are ongoing across the country.

 ‘‘The problem is that there was no import substitution, no clear agenda to be realized to reduce import substitution during the last administration. We kept making money without savings, we relied heavily on importation. We blame Buhari but he did not cause drop in oil price. We have to import with dollars because the past leaders have been chronic importers, we have to import everything we need. Not only import, but we also rely heavily on available few dollars.

‘‘The foreign reserve was 29bn dollars when we came in, we could not dip hands into the reserve. This was the genesis of things being expensive. I do not see where Buhari is responsible.

“He is not responsible for drop in the price of oil, we have to blame past leaders, who know that oil can never be stable. They had the opportunity to dip hands in the reserve and stabilize our currency but did not save for the future and they have the audacity to shamelessly accuse Buhari for high cost of commodities. ‘‘Any fair-minded Nigerian will know that President Buhari has delivered on his mandate and deserve our commendation. We have done wonderfully well and will soon blow our trumpet for people to see. Nigerians should come out with the truth and stop listening to propaganda and trace our problems to the roots. He is not the one who killed the rabbit, he was asked to carry the dead rabbit.’’

In reaction to the commissioned projects, the Governor mentioned that about 120 people had been trained in Jigawa by the federal government on digital skills acquisition and scientific way of farming. As for the governor, President Buhari has made the right choice in appointing Dr. Pantami as minister of Communications and Digital Economy, describing him as a round peg in a round hole.

 The 12 projects commissioned are; E-Library Federal College of Education Technical, Bichi Kano State, ICT Innovation Hub Oyo state, E-Accessible center Government school for the deaf Malumfashi Katsina state, Virtual Examination center College of Education (technical) Enugu state, Digital capacity training center Elkanemi College of Islamic Theology Yola state, School Knowledge center, SKC, AUD high school Ekiti state, Emergency communication center, ECC, Kano state. Others include a digital capacity development program for Artisans in Suleja Niger state, Lautech Oyo State, FCE Okene Kogi state, NIIT Owerri Imo state, Benchills school Warri Delta state.

Recall that the Minister had commissioned 6 projects in July in the first phase of the commissioning, while another was commissioned on August 11th in the second phase to aid Digital Economy revolution.