The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Mrs. Omobola Johnson

  • Fed Govt eyes $50b ICT sector investment

    Fed Govt eyes $50b ICT sector investment

    • Broadband campaign begins

    The Federal Government yesterday in Lagos unveiled plans to double investments in the information communication technology (ICT) sector from its current $25 billion level to $50 billion in the coming years.

    Specifically, the Federal Government is targeting another $25 billion in private sector investments into the sector.

    Minister of Communication Technology, Mrs Omobola Johnson who made this known during the launch of ‘Broadband Campaign” with ‘Connected Nigeria, Connected Nigerians’ as theme said pursuant to achieving this target, the Ministry and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) have been going round the world selling the ICT sector to the international investing public.

    Mrs Johnson said: “We need $25 billion more in the next few years into the country. The NCC is going around, as the ministry also does, to win more investors into the country to boost broadband penetration in Nigeria.”

    According to her, though the broadband penetration in the country is currently stands at between 6-7 per cent, the ministry is working with all stakeholders to ensure that the National Broadband Plan 2013-2018 implementation is achieved, adding that one of the steps taken to ensure its implementation is the setting up of a council.

    She said: “To ensure that the Plan is monitored, we set up the Broadband Council in 2013 to ensure proper monitoring of the Broadband Plan implementation.”

    She said the ministry has been working with state governments and other relevant stakeholders to tackle technical, financial and environmental obstacles to accelerated broadband roll-out across the country.

    She expressed optimism that with ICT sector currently contributing about eight per cent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the sector will do more if the hurdles on the way of operators are removed.

    She recalled the landmark memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by the Lagos State government and the operators as a loud testimony to the efforts of the ministry at creating a conducive environment for business in the country. According to her, the MoU led to the reduction of the cost of fibre optic deployment by 85 per cent, stressing that similar move is being made to ensure the that Right of Way (RoW) cost is drastically reduced for faster infrastructure deployment.

  • NITDA board appointment irks computer professionals

    NITDA board appointment irks computer professionals

    The alleged unilateral decision of the Minister of Communication Technology, Mrs Omobola Johnson to drop the list of four nominees to the board of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) sent to her by the Computer Professionals Registration Council of Nigeria (CPN) and approved by President Goodluck Jonathan has drawn the ire of the professional body and its members.

    According to a source in the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS), the action of the minster amounted to usurpation of the function of the CPN.

    “In a letter dated 11th October 2013 signed by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Communication Technology Dr. Henry Akpan, the Honourable Minister of Communication Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson conveyed the approval of four names of IT professionals to the NITDA Board by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

    “The nominees were sent by the CPN in accordance with the NITDA Act of 2011. Part II Section(C) under the Composition of the Governing Board Powers and Functions says “Four persons to represent affiliate bodies of the Computer Professionals Registration Council of Nigeria,” the NCS source said.

    But in a reaction, the minister denied usurping the power of CPN, insisting that the law does not give the body such powers. Special Assistant (Media) to the minister, Efem Nkanga, said the action of the minster was line with the law.

    “The Minister has not usurped the powers of CPN, on the contrary, the NITDA Act 2007 makes provision for four persons to represent affiliateý bodies of CPN.

    “The above does not say that CPN should nominate, and CPN cannot be an affiliate of its own body. Hence the bodies duly recognised in the industry are to be considered bearing in mind that members of these bodies are also CPN members.

    “To this end, the Act did not grant membership to CPN neither does it authorised CPN to be the one to nominate.The bodies recognised in the industry are Internet Service Providers Association of Nigeria (ISPAN), NCS, Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON) and Information Technology Association of Nigeria (ITAN),” she explained in an email response, adding that the NITDA Act was interpreted by the Legal Adviser of the Ministry of Communication Technology.

    The NCS lamented that in less than three days before the inauguration of the board, the minister issued a counter order dropping the names earlier approved .

    “This in the view of the profession is a misinterpretation of the law to justify her position on affiliate bodies. This interpretation cannot be the intention of the Act and is a clear misunderstanding of her responsibilities as a neutral umpire,” the source said.

  • ICT industry growing at 20%, says Minister

    ICT industry growing at 20%, says Minister

    Nigeria’s Information Communication Technology (ICT) indutry is growing at about 20 per cent yearly, the Minister of Communication Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson, has said.

    Mrs. Johnson who made this known at the unveiling of the ‘1000 Girls For ICT Training Programme’ in Lagos yesterday, said it is the fastest growing sector in the nation’s economy.

    It is being implemented with a leading global ICTsolutions provider, Huawei, where 100 women are being trained in ICT Basic Knowledge.

    She said ICT has the transformational power to accelerate the development of women by helping them to be more efficient and effective in their jobs, careers and businesses and to generate new employment opportunities.

    Mrs  Johnson said ICT has the potential to contribute to increasing the social welfare of women. She said: “Nigeria’s ICT sector has increased tremendously in the past 12 years growing at 20 per cent annually, making it the fastest growing in the country and women must be part of the revolution.”

    With a foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow running into over $25 billion, she said the sector is contributing about eight per cent to the country’s total Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

    Mrs Johnson said: “So, about 1, 000 female students will benefit from the one year programme and the training will be organised in Huawei ICT Training Centre in Abuja and Huawei Exhibition Hall in Lagos.”

    Johnson added that the specific skills that the trainees would acquired are some of the highly-priced in the industry, making them well sought ýafter by IF companies, immediately after the training.

    Huawei said the launch of the programme was also part of its strong corporate social responsibility (CSR) to the country and in solidarity with female students who are willing to explore their careers in ICT industry across the country.

    ýAccording to the Vice President, Huawei West Africa, Mr. Hover Gao, the programme was part of Huawei’s commitment to localisation, technology transferring to Nigeria and employment promotion.

    “Huawei is the first ICT solutions provider to establish an ICT training centre in Abuja back in 2004 and since then, the training centre has provided more than 5, 000 opportunities to ICT practitioners.

    He, however, noted that the Huawei and the Ministry of Communication Technology orientation programme on ICT Basic Knowledge for female students is not a one-time-off event.

  • Broadband penetration‘ll be 80% by 2017 – Johnson

    Broadband penetration‘ll be 80% by 2017 – Johnson

    The Federal Government has assured that the nation’s broadband width will grow substantially in the next couple of years. This was disclosed during the inaugurated Broadband Implementation Council chaired by the Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson, with a target to achieve 80 per cent mobile broadband penetration for the country by 2017.

    Speaking during the inauguration of the council in Abuja, Johnson said it represented an important milestone in the implementation of the National Broadband Plan recently approved by President Goodluck Jonathan.

    She said, “The role of the council is to ensure that we not only have a well-articulated plan, but also a well executed plan.

    “The terms of reference include providing periodic progress report on the evaluation of the plan; facilitating the coordination and collaboration of the various stakeholders during plan implementation; ensuring that relevant agencies and institutions are actively engaged; and monitoring the progress of the plan and highlighting adjustment areas, if any.

    “The nomination to the council took all of the above into consideration and we went into a very careful process to select the individuals that were drawn into the council. The council has both institutional and individual representations.”

    According to the minister, the goal of the plan is to have pervasive mobile broadband access to 80 per cent of the population and fix broadband access to roughly 20 per cent by the year 2017.

    “With this goal in mind, and with the credibility and the composition of the nominees to this council, and working close with the ministry, I have no doubt that we can achieve the objective of the broadband plan,” she said.