THIRD(3RD) REGULAR MEETING OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL ON COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY (NCCT) HELD AT THE BANQUET HALL, GOVERNMENT HOUSE, YENAGOA, BAYELSA STATE 11TH-16TH SEPTEMBER, 2014 COMMUNIQUE The Third (3rd) meeting of the National Council on Communication Technology (NCCT) was held in Yenogoa, Bayelsa State from 11th–16th September, 2014 under the Chairmanship of the Hon. Minister of Communication Technology Dr. (Mrs.) Omobola Johnson. The meeting was declared open by the Executive Governor of Bayelsa State, H.E. RT. Hon. Henry Seriake Dickson who was ably represented by the State’s Deputy Governor, H.E Rtd Rear Admiral John Jonah. Honourable Commissioners, Special Advisers, Directors- General, Directors and Officials of ICT, Science and Technology and other related areas from 22 States of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) attended the meeting. Also present were Directors and representatives of Federal Ministries and Departments including the Office of Head of Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF), Ministries of Finance, Power, Justice, Interior, Aviation, Water Resources, Niger Delta Affairs, Science and Technology, National Planning Commission (NPC), the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) , National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC), Office of the SSAP-MDGs , Bureau of Public Procurement and Pension Commission. Heads of various Federal Parastatals, ICT Directorates/Agencies, Private Sector/Industry representatives, representatives of Professionals Associations e.g. Nigeria Companies Society (NCS), Association of Licensed Telecom Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Computer Professional Registration Council of Nigeria (CPRCN) and other stakeholders were also in attendance. The event featured exhibition of various ICT related products and services by different Federal/State Government, MDAs and the private sector. The Council meeting was preceded by a 2-day meeting of officials on the 11th and 12th September, 2014 under the chairmanship of the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Communication Technology, Dr. Tunji Olaopa. A total of 49 substantive memoranda in addition to a number of information memos were considered and recommendations made to Council. In his welcome address the Bayelsa State Commissioner for Science and Technology Hon (Elder) Indutimi Komonibo welcomed members and disclosed that Bayelsa State had signed an MOU with the Federal Ministry of Communication Technology and the Broadband Council making the State one of the States to embark on the Smart States Initiative with an expectation to become a global ICT hub of repute in line with the Vision 20:2020. He stated that Bayelsa State had also made significant progress in the development of ICT infrastructure and capacity building. While informing of the state Governor’s commitment to using ICT for development and improved service delivery, he thanked the Governor and Honourable Minister of Communication Technology for the opportunity given to the state to host the event. Goodwill messages were given by the President of the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS), Professor David Adewunmi and the President of the Association of Licensed Telecom Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Engineer Lanre Ajayi. In his message, Professor Adewunmi thanked the Council members for their efforts in taking ICT to a different level. He disclosed that the NCS is willing to collaborate with the Federal and State governments in the task of developing ICT in the country. He urged stakeholders to be focused and committed to their mission declaring that ICT is an imperative for national development. The President of ATCON commended the Federal Ministry of Communication Technology and members of the Council for the progress being recorded in the ICT sector. He enjoined all the states to sign up to the smart states initiative as a veritable way of accelerating the tempo of progress. In her keynote address, the Hon. Minister of Communication Technology thanked the Executive Governor of Bayelsa State, His Excellency, Rt. Hon. Henry Seriake Dickson and his government for accepting to host the 3rd Council Meeting at very short notice. She indicated that the Ministry of Communication Technology is already collaborating with the State in a number of areas and congratulated the Governor for pursuing a Digital Transformation Agenda in his State. The Hon. Minister highlighted the top priority areas of the Ministry to include Connect Nigeria-which focuses on building ICT infrastructure, Connect Nigerians, ICT in government and Local Content. She disclosed that the Ministry of Communication Technology has made progress in its priority areas resulting in improvements in a number of indicators including teledensity, active subscription, number of internet users, and internet penetration. She also noted that steady progress was being made in software industry development and ICT in government. She assured that the Ministry of Communication Technology would provide the necessary leadership and rallying point for ensuring that the potential of the Nigerian ICT sector is fully harvested for the attainment of inclusive and sustainable development. In his opening address, the Governor of Bayelsa State represented by the Deputy Governor of the state, Rear Admiral John Jonah welcomed the Hon. Minister of Communication Technology, Dr. (Mrs) Omobola Johnson and other dignitaries underscoring the importance of the Council meeting as a way of advancing the ICT sector. The Governor highlighted positive steps taken by the State in its quest to develop the ICT sector and urged members of the NCCT to continue to cultivate relevant ideas that are germane to effective mainstreaming of ICT for national development particularly as regards local content, broadband download performance and the ability of ICT to improve governance. The Council deliberated exhaustively on the 73 page report presented by the meeting of officials and other items of the Agenda and agreed on the following major decisions and recommendations: i. The Council appreciated and thanked the Bayelsa State Governor, H.E. Hon. Henry Seriake Dickson for hosting the Council meeting within a very short notice and for the good strides he had made in the governance of Bayelsa State and for being one of the progressive and smart states that uses ICT in leveraging socio-economic benefit of its citizens; ii. The Council also appreciated the efforts of other State Government’s for their commitments towards implementing some of the past decisions of the Council towards ensuring the development of ICT in their States and the Nigerian ICT sector in general. iii. States and Local governments in the country should make policy changes in the areas of investing in infrastructure security and development, active collaboration in negotiating Federal, State and local government jurisdiction issues as it affects ICT, establishing or strengthening where they exist Ministries, agencies or authorities to build capability to coordinate ICT that will pay due attention to ICT investment and funding as well as coordinated ICT development. iv. In implementing the National Broadband Plan at all tiers of government, States in the country were urged to sign up to the Memorandum of Understanding with the Federal Ministry of Communication Technology for implementation of the Smart State initiative already pioneered in 3 states namely Lagos, Cross River and FCT; and being tested in Anambra, Bayelsa, Ondo with others to follow. v. Members should sensitize their Chief Executives and mobilize support for implementation of the National Addressing policy which is to be piloted in the six geo political zones with Ekiti, Nasarawa, Benue, Bayelsa , Osun, Plateau , Gombe and Anambra states as volunteers vi. All states in the country should participate actively in the effort to finalise the national e-government framework vii. All tiers of government in Nigeria should consider the adoption of the Open Data policy as a means of creating jobs, making data available for policy formulation and decision making as well as reducing the cost of governance and improving public service delivery viii. Federal Government to develop and implement a National Data security policy that would be entrenched in all tiers of government and other sectors ix. NIPOST should leverage on existing Public Access Venues (PAV) infrastructure around all the country to deploy its services and also use its post offices to deploy ICT services all across the country. x. The institutionalization of equal participation for women and girls in ICT as a matter of priority for national development xi. The adoption and replication of Digital Girls curriculum in State secondary schools across the nation. xii. That the National Working Committee on ICT statistics meet bi-annually on the sides of the National Council on Communication Technology and that a workshop be conducted by the Federal Ministry of Communication Technology on ways and means of improving the availability of ICT statistics in the country. xiii. The contents of the Guidelines for Nigerian Local Content in ICT be brought to the attention of state MDAs, ICT companies and the public in general. xiv. Federal Ministry of Communication Technology to approach the National Bureau of Statistics NBS with a view to mainstreaming relevant ICT indicators into their data collection instruments as a complementary means of mitigating the present paucity of ICT data xv. All relevant Federal Ministry of Communication Technology agencies to support Niger State to consolidate on the gains of its initiatives through capacity building, technical expertise, partnership and funding. NITDA and Niger state to work out the modalities. xvi. That Galaxy Backbone Limited partners with the state governments to extend the data security facilities in the states from the existing infrastructure to fully optimize the value of the initial investment on the facilities xvii. That each State provides a suitable venue with 250 sitting capacity and nominate 800 unemployed youths for the workshop for training of prospective job seekers on digital job opportunities, an initiative of the Federal Ministry of Communication Technology xviii. That States and local governments support NigComSat as it negotiates with them on acquisition of sites for the deployment of infrastructure to facilitate the affordability of its services xix. In order to put a sustainable mechanism for addressing the problem of Cyber security in the country, NITDA to actively work towards the development of National Cyber security Strategy without prejudice to ongoing efforts of the Office of the National Security Adviser xx. Companies and entities at both the State and Federal levels urged to have .ng domain names and to establish web presence xxi. Council noted and appreciated the efforts of many states that made presentations and shared their experiences on how they are using ICT applications for improved service delivery and greater efficiency. xxii. Council commended the Hon. Minister Dr (Mrs) Omobola Johnson for her commitment and hardwork in moving the ICT sector forward in her three years in office as the Honourable Minister
Posted on: Sun, 21 Sep 2014 20:17:13 +0000