UNESCO woos Nigeria’s digital economy partnership
By Uwa Suleiman, Abuja
The permanent delegate of the Federal Republic to the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), Her Excellency, Ms Hajo Sani on Monday expressed the desire to work with the Federal Government in driving the digital economy.
She expressed this when she paid a courtesy visit to the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami to discuss possible areas of partnership between the two organisations to further drive the renewed IT-focused agenda of UNESCO.
She outlined relevant key areas including; Creating Knowledge Societies, Infrastructural Investments, World Summit on Information Society, Inter governmental partnerships and programmes, the Internet Universality Indicators, among others.
She solicited the Minister’s support in ensuring that strategic engagements between UNESCO and the Ministry are deliberate and impactful. She further urged the Minister to facilitate the active involvement of UNESCO in the Nigeria Digital Economy sector for the benefit of the country.
In his response, Dr Pantami while felicitating with her on her appointment noted that the programmes and initiatives of UNESCO are in alignment with that of the sector and in line with global best practices.
He emphasized that ICT is the key enabler of every sector of the economy globally- “If you explore the key of Digital Technology properly, you will open a lot of opportunities in Education, Science, Agriculture, Health and other sectors.
“The Digital Economy is not just a stand-alone sector, but the key enabler to limitless opportunities in every sector. It is commendable that UNESCO has identified and recognised the relevance of leveraging on digital technologies for development.”
The Minister noted that most of the policies established under the present administration to drive the Digital Economy have a direct impact on UNESCO’s key objectives. He further outlined some of them as; The National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy for a Digital Nigeria, The Nigerian National Broadband Plan, The National Policy on Virtual Engagements in Federal Public Institutions, The National Policy on Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) Core Skills for Nigerians, among others.
Pantami pledged the full support of the Ministry and the parastatals under its purview, to the newly forged partnership between the two organisations.
