It was a proud moment of excitement for the Nigerian delegation, led by Professor Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami), the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, accompanied by Kashifu Inuwa, the Director General of NITDA, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communication Commission,  and the Engr. Tukur Muhammad Funtua, Managing Director, Nigerian Communication Satellite, that participated at the 2nd edition of the LEAP Technology Exhibition in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

According to a statement signed by Uwa Suleiman, Senior Special Assistant Media/Spokesperson to the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, over 10,000 Startups submitted applications from different countries.

After rigorous scrutiny, the applicants were down to 220, and only 90 startups were selected to pitch their business ideas in the semi-final. Eight Nigerian Startups participated at the semi-final, and three reached the final stage.

RiceAfrika Technologies – is a tech-driven agric optimisation startup that deploys IoT-enabled harvester and its FARMEasy mobile app for smallholder farming communities in Africa.

RiceAfrika believes Africa can feed itself and feed the world. It emerged as the global best in ‘The Tech for Humanity Award’ category and is coming home with 150,000 dollars.

While Wicrypt is an innovative Tech startup decentralising internet globally.

The startup has a custom OS and hardware that allows users to share data with people around them and charge an affordable rate also won 150,000 dollars after he was announced as the global best in the ‘The Into New World Award’ category.

Professor Pantami leader of Nigerian delegation expressed his delight while maintaining that Nigerian Startups have all it takes to compete with their peers in the global stage.

“I am so proud of our Startups who emerged as the global best in these categories. It is quite a long journey that followed rigorous process until the end; from over 10,000 applications to the final 12, in which three Nigerians took part and two emerged winners. We are delighted that our startups are not only amazing but went through a lot of nurturing and mentorship to be the best in the world,” he noted.

The Minister stated that Nigeria is on the right track in implementing its National Digital Economy Policy and Strategies to ensure that Nigerian Startups add value to the global tech ecosystem. We are building the ecosystem and making it more conducive for nurturing innovation-driven enterprises. Our startups are creating solutions for the local market that can easily scale to the global market.

“The journey started in 2019 shortly after President Muhammadu Buhari unveiled the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) for Digital Nigeria. Now we are reaping the positive benefits of our commitment. In the space of five months, we have Nigerians that are making us proud on the global stage.

“The eight entries from Nigeria competed with over 90 Startups in the semi-finals, showcasing their innovative ideas that will transform economies and solve pertinent issues around the world. Therefore, they emerged global best. They did not only pitch to win grants but also attended various knowledge-sharing sessions, conferences and investor meetings that have exposed them to numerous ways to accelerate their products for the best market fit. The startups intracted with the world’s best mentors, angel investors and venture capitalists.”

“It is also noteworthy that eight Startups we brought to this year’s LEAP, three made it the Grand Finale, two won, and are going back home to add value to our Digital Economy. On behalf of the Nigerian government, we sincerely appreciate the Digital Cooperation Organization (DCO) Headquarters, Riyadh, for sponsoring our innovative startups to participate and showcase their innovations to the world”, he added.

Prof. Pantami also said that the successes of Nigerian Startups in GITEX, Dubai, United Arab Emirates in October last year, and today in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, is evident that the country’s innovators have accepted the challenge posed to them by the Federal Government to not stell as the African leaders but compute globally.

“The recent successes are the fruit of policies we put in place to ensure our Startups walk shoulder to shoulder with their counterparts in Europe, Asia and other parts of the world. Under President Muhammadu Buhari, the federal government appreciates the outstanding exploits of startups in the country, which are helping to create jobs, fast-track economic development, and also winning awards and grants amounting to millions of naira,” he concluded.

This year’s LEAP brought together breackthrough innovative ideas and emerging developments in technology under one roof. A landmark technology event that galvanised public and private organisations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Five startups were crowned as category winners, and the sixth, Plastus Biotech, ascended to victory and held the LEAP 2023 Award for the best overall startup. All of this took place in front of seasoned judges, angel investors, tech experts and government stakeholders from around the world!

The six awards divided the startup entrants by size, scale, impact on society, amount of funding, years in business, and a number of employees. Judges for the competition include Ghazal Alagh, Co-founder, of Mamaearth and Judge, Shark Tank India, Baroness Karren Brady CBE, Vice Chairman of West Ham United Football Club, James Caan CBE, entrepreneur, businessman, investor, and former Dragon on BBC’s Dragons’ Den, and Steven Bartlett, entrepreneur, investor, podcaster, and current Dragon on BBC’s Dragons’ Den.

Prof. Pantami made the call regarding 4IR today Sunday 5th February 2023 at the on-going second General Assembly in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The Minister who is a founding member of the Organisation’s Council, decried the current approach of tackling challenges as they occur but canvassed for a more proactive approach to issues.

“I want to encourage all member states and most importantly the leadership of the DCO on the need to be proactive. Most of the member states are developing countries and we need to change the trend to ensure that we are not just consumers in the digital economy sector but rather we are actively among the manufacturers, developers and innovators. The fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) is all about proactiveness. No country in the world will develop its digtal economy by maintaining a consumer status. We have the opportunities and potential to change the narrative and position ourselves as leaders in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, therefore, we must encourage innovation, manufacturing and development”.

The Digital Cooperation Organisation of which Nigeria is a founding member, is aimed at bridging the digital and gender divide, according to a statement signed by Uwa Suleiman, Senior Special Assistant (Media) and Spokesperson to the Minister.

The Minister, according to a statement by his Spokesperson, Uwa Suleiman, made this remark today, Monday 30th May 2022 at a meeting with Mr Houlin Zhou, the Secretary General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), at the Union’s headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

“We are very pleased about the recognition accorded us based on our modest achievements within the sector particularly on our continent and by extension, we consider the appointment not as a personal or national recognition but as a continental achievement because Nigeria is strategically the leader of the continent, the most populous country in Africa with the biggest and the largest economy on the continent among other things, so occupying this position as the giant of Africa is an honour for Africa and an opportunity for us to continue to contribute our quota to the success of our sector globally. We assure you that we will give the maximum attention it requires.”

Professor Pantami, the chairman of WSIS Summit 2022 also noted that “the sector has the support of the Federal Government of Nigeria and particularly President Muhammadu Buhari whose interventions have made the achievements in the sector possible.

Recall that the Minister was appointed as forum chairman for the 2022 Summit and is to retain the position for a year.

Earlier, Mr Houlin Zhao, Secretary General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has called on Professor Pantami to use his good offices as Chairman of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) to encourage the participation of other relevant sectors like education and agriculture, in the WIS process. 

This, he said, will enable the engagement of the global agriculture sector in the use of technologies to enhance food production and the use of emerging technologies to enhance education, among others.

“We have tried to engage Ministers of agriculture in various countries but we have not made the desired headway, so your excellency if you can help us enforce this strategy, it will make a difference. Nigeria occupies a very important position in Africa and the world and especially with your achievements in the ICT sector, we believe your influence will make a notable difference”.

Professor Pantami while thanking the Secretary General for the confidence reposed in him by his appointment as forum chairman, assured that he will take up the challenge and ensure global participation of the relevant sectors in advancing the WSIS process across the globe.

Another feat which like others preceding it, brings national acclaim and global recognition to Nigeria in particular, and Africa in general. In the last couple of years, he has become the symbol of undeniable change.

In a society where ineptitude, self-aggrandizement, corruption, pretentious discretion, learned lawlessness and senseless resistance to progressive change seem to have a free rein in the most unexpected quarters, HM Pantami came along and disrupted the norm.

The magnitude of change and the impact of his leadership capabilities is a shock to those who are stuck in the doldrums of yesterday.

His Excellency, Professor Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami FNCS, FBCS, FIIM, MCPN has just been appointed Chairman of the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) 2022 by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

This historically positions him as the first Nigerian to ever serve in this capacity.  In conveying and justifying this appointment, the Secretary General of the International Communications Union (ITU) said “In light of his overall commitment to information and knowledge societies and the active role he has played in WSIS.”

The Professor of Cybersecurity is a catalyst for change and operates an impactful leadership style.

HM Pantami does not hide behind the ease of short term, one-hit-wonder-glories. He conceives strategies that hitherto didn’t exist and follows through from draft to implementation with matchless focus. This article is an attempt to highlight the resounding impact of the Professor’s leadership.

It is not enough to focus on the various novel policies, projects and strategies he has established as in my humble opinion, they limit the scope of his achievements. I shall however mention in passing some of these history-altering strategies to lend credence to my assertions.

I will broadly categorise them into two. First, the re-designation of the Ministry to include the “Digital Economy” nomenclature and secondly, The National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) initiative. These brilliant ideas form the bedrock of HM Pantami’s foundational change.

Within a little over two years in office as the  Digital Economy driver, Nigeria has seen the offshoots of the aforementioned translate into  sixteen policies, some of which are already in full effect and some at various stages of implementation. Nigeria is well on its way to compiling its first comprehensive data base and like it or not, essential services are becoming more accessible, less cumbersome, transparent and efficient.  

Earlier this year, I was flagged down by officers of the Vehicle Inspection Office (VIO) on my way to work, on one of those mornings when the clock seemed to be on a marathon and everything that could slow you down was in full effect. Within the less than a minute that it took me to park properly and retrieve my vehicle documents, the officer waved me on saying “madam your papers are up to date you can go” I didn’t understand what just happened and in spite of my hurry, I asked how he knew without even looking at them.

Then he pointed to the official vehicle parked a few metres away. “We checked it out on our system” That is what a digital society feels like – efficient, effective and transparent.

Before January 25th 2019, the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR) was non-existent. It took the intervention of my boss as the then Director General of NITDA, to initiate a clearly strategic policy and nurture it to a full fledged, functional public parastatal today. (The story of NDPR and the Nigeria Data Protection Bureau (NDPB) is a discourse for another day), but suffice to state here that, that singular action inspired a revolution about data protection in Africa. 

Professor Pantami is a known advocate of skills. Particularly, digital skills and  he has continued to ensure unprecedented investments in digital skills without going cap in hand to anybody but by meticulously and doggedly laying an unshakeable foundation which like a flower in bloom, is attracting the bees. Besides the numerous digital skills training programmes he has initiated for various institutions and individuals, he has ensured sustainability by establishing institutions and policies that  guarantee continuity.

The first of its kind in Africa, functional National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics which has become a breeding ground for innovators and innovations is to his credit. The Nigeria Startup Bill is still generating excitement in the ecosystem just understanding its potential. The National Assembly is dotting the I’s and crossing the t’s (if any) and the most supportive bill yet specifically geared towards the unhindered development of an indigenous ecosystem would be birthed and of course, there is the almighty 5th Generation network deployment.

Thanks to the unprecedented level of awareness and consciousness brought about by Pantami’s relentless campaigns and initiatives, nothing is, and will ever remain the same again. Agriculture, Education, Health, Commerce, Finance, Aviation, Entrepreneurship, Manufacturing, Security, Communications and most importantly the business of Governance. Everything is changing. All the elements and factors are keying into the enabler- technologies.

The ripple effects of what I have enumerated thus far, is a game changer for any economy. The World Bank Diagnostic report on the Nigeria Digital Economy expressly states that “As the biggest economy in Africa, Nigeria is well positioned to develop a strong digital economy. This would have a transformational impact on the country”.

Besides potential and resources, the main vehicle for transformational impact is leadership. Focused, intentional, result-oriented leadership. And this is the void Pantami has come to fill and he is doing it like he was born for it.

He is equipped with the capacity to lead, the bravery to chart new courses, the will to insist on doing it right and the resilience required in these peculiar climes to ignore distractions and stay the course. Professor Pantami if nothing else, has shone the light in a very dark tunnel and paved the path to the realisation that a digital economy is the enabler. The awareness has been created and the response has been overwhelming. 

Currently, the focus like never before is on Nigeria’s digital economy and I am talking on a global scale. Thanks to the intentional leadership and vision of the Honourable Minister, the offices of the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy has become a breeding ground of viable ideas and a Mecca of sorts for egg heads who understand and share the future he is bent on bringing to reality. The world is excited about Pantami. Like a phoenix he rises through the most patriotic actions we have witnessed in these climes.

While we bicker and waste precious time and energy debating on the rather mundane and ridiculous, the world is embracing this symbol of change. On a daily basis, global corporations, tech giants of repute, policy makers of no mean repute, diplomats, royalties, captains of industry, Private sector investors, security chiefs, throng to his office seeking collaborations and partnerships that we had only hitherto read of happening in other climes, with Nigeria.

These are verifiable facts as there are investments which prove renewed faith in the country owing to the breath of fresh air Pantami epitomises.

The world knows that this is a man who must be taken seriously by all accounts. The world sees Professor Pantami as Africa’s game changer and is responding in like manner. Easily the most performing Minister in Nigeria today, he has attracted the most investment through his sector into the country. 

Microsoft for instance, just established the Africa Development Centre in Lagos, Nigeria. This is a multi-million dollar investment that has given impetus to the Minister’s capacity building initiatives. This Centre, is going to be a melting pot of the best innovations Africa can boast of.  At inception, Seven Hundred innovators trained to be trainers were already on ground. On a working visit to the Honourable Minister, on 1st April 2022, the President of Microsoft Corporation Mr Brad Smith said “We are excited about Nigeria in part because of your leadership and your role in the digital economy plan and we are willing to invest in Nigeria because we are confident in your digital economy drive.”

On the 14th of February 2022, the European Union (EU) came calling. Leader of the delegation, Executive Vice President, Her Excellency Margrethe Vestager was excited to announce an Eight Hundred and Twenty Million Euro investment through its Global Gateway Initiative, in the digital economy sector in key areas like digital infrastructure, entrepreneurship, skills and governance because in her words “the leadership of the Honourable Minister has restored confidence in the country’s digital potential.”

The world trade ambassador Dr A.M AbdulHamid on a working visit to HM Pantami  on the 8th of March 2022, said “the purpose of our visit today is to applaud and appreciate you for your role in the transformation agenda which you have introduced into this country. With the transformation you have brought, especially with the introduction of the digital economy, the future of e-commerce in Nigeria is guaranteed.” I have lost count of how many ambassadorial delegations have paid homage to my boss’ office seeking  to ingratiate their countries into his transformational policies through various partnerships and collaborations. 

My Boss HM Pantami is an uncommon leader, the type that a people are blessed with generationally. Patriotic to a fault, unusually selfless and futuristic in his vision. When my boss says “Nigeria is not about West Africa but about the continent as a whole”, I see exactly what he means in his actions. It is easy to recall that Pantami inspired the enactment and implementation of the Data Protection Regulation across Africa. Countries like Ghana, actually sent delegations to interact with us and learn from him how to move forward with data protection in their various domains. When he speaks at global fora, he represents Africa not just Nigeria. Every single personality whom I have been privileged to welcome into my boss’ esteemed offices has attested the the Nigeria Digital Economy Policy and Strategy document as a continental game changer, one way or the other.

I am personally exhausted with the maxim that “a prophet is not recognised in his own home”. Let us be the country and the generation that recognises and honours and supports its “prophets”. Before HM Pantami’s incursion into the Nigerian public sector, we all dreamt and yearned for a messianic figure who can bring about the much needed change.

There is no spirit-like being who will descend on wings to come and perform magic. The change makers are human, they are living, breathing, ordinary humans like our HM Pantami. What sets them apart is what they do and how they do it. Now we have Pantami. It is up to us to recognise, support and honour our own before the world snatches him away from us. When we were unaware we had an asset of this valuable magnitude, it was forgivable to be blissfully ignorant. But now that we know, it will be unforgivable to lose him to any other country in the world.

And trust me, the world is watching, waiting and hungry for that opportunity.

*UWA SULEIMAN is the Spokesperson to the Honourable Minister

Margrethe Vestager, the Executive Vice President of the European Union disclosed this today Monday, 14th February 2022 during a working visit to Professor Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami), the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, at the Digital Economy Complex in Abuja.

According to Uwa Suleiman, spokesperson to Pantami, Vestager while extolling the exemplary leadership style of the Minister, noted that the need for stronger partnerships has brought global attention to the country’s Digital Economy sector.

She enumerated the Union’s intervention in the sector to include; Digital Infrastructure Investments, Digitalisation of Public Services, Digital Entrepreneurship, Digital Skills and Digital Governance.

“Nigeria has immense potential for digitalization and  with a combination of One Hundred and Sixty Million Euros in grants and Six Hundred and Sixty Million Euros in loans, the European Union aims to comprehensively support Nigeria’s digitalization strategy” she emphasized.

In his response, Pantami while expressing his delight and appreciation for the intervention reiterated the Federal Government’s willingness to partner with the European Union. “Africa has always looked up to Europe in the area of technological advancements and this partnership is a welcome development that will project the digitalization aspirations of our country.

Pantami was particular about digital entrepreneurship and the immense impact it will bring to bear on the nation’s economy.

“This partnership with regards to digital entrepreneurship, will address the challenge of unemployment and un-employability alongside the Nigeria Startup Bill which also aims to address a myriad of issues within the ecosystem.”

The Minister further informed the delegation that Nigeria hopes to achieve the paperless office by the year 2030 and it is on track, taking into cognizance the rate at which public institutions are embracing the digital economy drive.

The European Union intervention is in alignment with the Nigeria Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS), a digital roadmap initiated and championed by Pantami towards the economic digitalization drive of President Muhammadu Buhari (GCFR).