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FG Reaffirms Commitment for Implementation of National eGovernment Master Plan
Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, minister of Communications and Digital Economy has said that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari GCFR is very passionate about the implementation of National eGovernment master plan where eGovernment becomes a blessing to everyone.
The Minister stated this on Wednesday at the virtual webinar, together with the Director General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Mallam Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi and MD/CEO of Digital Jewels Ltd, Ms Adedoyin Odunfa and members of the press to commemorate NITDA’s 20th Anniversary.
Dr Pantami in his remark disclosed how he presented a memo with the Head of Civil Service of the Federation before the Federal Executive Council on National Policy for virtual engagements in Federal Public institutions which were approved.
He added that virtual engagements are now formal and institutionalized form of engagements in Nigeria.
“At the ministerial level in Nigeria, our responsibility is more on National Policy development and Policy supervision,” the Minister noted.
The Minister stated that his focus was not just to have an active eGovernment but a secure one which will gain the confidence of all Nigerians.
He further disclosed that the National Digital Economic Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) which was developed for a digital Nigeria has eGovernment has one of its pillars and secured through another pillar ‘Cybersecurity”.
He noted that a subsidiary legislation of the Nigerian Data Protection Regulations (NDPR) which is a regulation that protects the privacy of data being implemented by NITDA, is one of the most effective initiatives of the current administration.
“I led a team then that developed the first ever NDPR in order to give confidence to our citizens that any data under the government is secured, and we have been implementing this”, he added.
Dr Pantami mentioned that series of eGovernment trainings have been organized where public and civil servants were trained on eGovernment.
He said some of the trainings are being conducted by NITDA in collaboration with Galaxy Backbone limited, adding that National eGovernment Training Centre which was established by this administration in Abuja at the Public Service Institute is a world class training centre where citizens, particularly civil servants and other underemployed or unemployed citizens are being trained.
He said recently, the President has unveiled the National Cybersecurity Policy, and awareness is being created to all citizens on how to cautiously navigate the internet, which is a foundational strategy for eGovernment.
“When you are online, you are exposed to so many challenges. We have been training citizens on cyber security not only at the federal and state levels but at local levels where trainings have been organized.
“From time to time, we issue advisory notes where citizens are being encouraged to take precautions on potential attacks,” the Minister concluded.
Mallam Abdullahi while giving his remark said that NITDA has recalibrated and refocused her efforts on the implementation of the NDEPS.
He disclosed that the Honorable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy unveiled the Agency’s Strategic Road Map and Action Plan which was a turning point for the Agency on digitalization of Nigeria.
“As we push for a digital economy, it is imperative to build the confidence and trust of citizens for either government services or other private services,” the DG noted.
He stated that the NITDA Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan 2021-2014 is anchored on seven strategic pillars; Developmental Regulations which focuses on indices needed to move Nigeria on the eGovernment index.
“Some of these regulations are regulatory instruments, guidelines and frameworks that prepare Nigeria for this journey”, the DG noted.
He stated that the Agency issued the NDPR which was to help Nigerians understand data privacy and build confidence for people to use data services.
“The regulations was innovative in the sense that apart from making sure we have a secure digital service, it also created an industry for our country. Data is the greatest resource in the digital economy,” he added.
Abdullahi said that Digital Literacy is another pillar which focuses on capacity building of eGovernment services, noting that it is important to build people’s capacities on proficient use of digital services.
He further stated that Digital Transformation is another pillar which uses digital technology for operational excellence in governance and to enhance transformational delivery of traditional government services.
The DG stated that Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship and Promotion of Indigenous Contents are strategic pillars which basically involves the maximum empowerment and use of local innovations to come up with indigenous made solutions for the Nation.
“Last year, the Honorable Minister directed us to come up with innovation challenges in motivating our innovation ecosystem to come up with digital innovation solutions for our country which we have done through various innovation challenges across the country.
“We are currently working with Mass Challenge to build a framework for innovation challenge across the country”, the DG mentioned.
Abdullalhi stated that Emerging Technologies is a pillar which encourages citizens to develop and adopt strategies for emerging technologies.
He said that some of the emerging technologies are foundational techs that cut across so many industries like the block chain, artificial intelligence and robotics.
“However, Cybersecurity is a pillar which is very essential for Digital Economy and Digital Transformation within the government.
“We are making our cyber space secure and build the confidence of every Nigerian citizen,” Abdullahi concluded.
While making her presentation, Ms Adedoyin Odunfa, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Digital Jewels, said the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals has aligned with NITDA in the areas of poverty eradication, gender equality, industry, innovation and infrastructure among others.
She disclosed that a survey on eGovernment development status was carried out in 193 United Nations Member States which reflected the importance of eGovernment to sustain the Sustainable Goals.
She categorically stated that if eGovernment is implemented effectively in any country, it will help in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Ms Odunfa noted that facilitating policies and services through eGovernment, Open government data for promoting effective & transparent institutions, eGovernment for policy integration and e-participation to promote participatory decision making and service delivery are key trends to be considered in eGovernment.
Airtel Nigeria has reaffirmed its long-term commitment to strengthening Nigeria’s digital infrastructure and data access to bridge gaps in connectivity and unlock new opportunities in the country.
The company restated this commitment during a recent high-level inspection tour of the Nxtra Data Centre that is being developed through Nxtra by Airtel Africa at Eko Atlantic, Lagos, the highly rated smart city with ambition to become the Data Centre hub of Nigeria.
The inspection tour was led by the Chief Executive Officer of Airtel Nigeria, Dinesh Balsingh and the Chief Executive Officer of Nxtra by Airtel Africa, Yashnath Issur, with the esteemed chairman of Eko Atlantic Mr. Gabbi Massoud, the CEO of the lead Engineering firm Design Group Limited, Mr. Bayo Odunlami and tech journalists.
The Nxtra Data Centre went through a stringent design validation process and cleared the approval to proceed construction from Eko Atlantic.
Commenting on the developments, Mr Issur said the site visit was a milestone marker and an indication of the company’s commitment to delivering the world-class digital facility on time and ensure that, ultimately, the investments deliver reliable, secure, world-class services for Nigeria and the rest of the continent.
“This Nxtra Data Centre in Lagos represents a critical part of our long-term vision for Nigeria’s digital ecosystem. Today’s visit allows us to review progress, engage our stakeholders, and ensure that our infrastructure investments continue to meet global standards and local needs.
“This data centre will deliver critical high multi megawatt capacity in line with hyperscale customers and enable high density environment. We are putting the infra to bring the cloud to Nigeria,” he said.
The data centre, set to be the largest in Nigeria, is being established to deliver hyperscale and edge facilities across key African markets. With a load of 38 Megawatts, the Lagos facility is expected to serve as a major hub for data hosting, cloud services, content distribution, artificial intelligence, and enterprise solutions in West Africa.
In his remarks, Mr Balsingh reiterated that the data centre was progressing steadily towards the previously announced 2028 go live date.
“Since the announcement of this project, our focus has been on building a world-class facility that supports Africa’s digital transformation agenda. We are encouraged by the progress recorded so far and remain committed to delivering a secure, energy-efficient, and future-ready data centre for Nigeria,” he said.
During the tour, stakeholders were ushered through key sections of the site, including piling zones, where required structural requirements have been tested. Technical teams provided briefings on infrastructure design, security architecture, redundancy systems, and sustainability measures being implemented to ensure reliability and operational excellence.
Strategically located close to major fibre routes and undersea cable landing stations, the Eko Atlantic data centre is designed to enhance Nigeria’s data sovereignty, reduce latency, and improve access to reliable digital services for private and enterprise customers, significantly boosting the country’s data hosting capacity and supporting emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and cloud computing.
Mr. Massoud noted that the inspection tour underscored the city’s dedication to infrastructure of global relevance.
“Eko Atlantic as a city with high quality infrastructure will contribute positively to boost the economy of Nigeria and is a perfect place for the development of the digital infrastructure of Nigeria. The Nxtra data centre reflects the calibre of projects we seek to attract — long-term, technology-driven investments built to the highest global standards.
Today’s visit affirms the rigour of the planning and execution process by Nxtra, and the commitment of Eko Atlantic to facilitate and promote the Nigeria’s evolving digital ecosystem,” he said.
Through this ongoing investment, Airtel Nigeria and Nxtra continue to demonstrate their commitment to building infrastructure that enables innovation, supports economic development, and accelerates Nigeria’s digital transformation.
Nxtra by Airtel is developing a network of hyperscale data centres across the continent. Besides Lagos, construction of a new data centre has also commenced in Nairobi, Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Google has partnered with top African research institutions to unveil WAXAL, a massive open-access speech dataset aimed at giving over 100 million people across Sub-Saharan Africa a stronger voice in the AI future.
The initiative, announced Monday, targets a key digital gap by supplying high-quality data for 21 local languages, such as Hausa, Yoruba, Luganda, and Acholi. It includes 1,250 hours of transcribed natural speech and more than 20 hours of studio-grade recordings for advanced synthetic voice tech.
Voice AI has exploded globally, yet Africa’s 2,000-plus languages suffer from severe data shortages, sidelining hundreds of millions from native-tongue tech access. WAXAL, three years in the making with Google funding, changes that equation.
“This dataset lays the groundwork for students, researchers, and entrepreneurs to craft tech in their own languages, impacting over 100 million lives,” said Aisha Walcott-Bryantt, Head of Google Research Africa.
She highlighted its potential for African innovators to develop educational tools and voice services that spark economic growth continent-wide.
Community-led from the start, the project involved Makerere University (Uganda), University of Ghana, Digital Umuganda (Rwanda), and others. These partners own the data outright, pioneering fair AI collaboration models.
Covered languages: Acholi, Akan, Dagaare, Dagbani, Dholuo, Ewe, Fante, Fulani (Fula), Hausa, Igbo, Ikposo (Kposo), Kikuyu, Lingala, Luganda, Malagasy, Masaaba, Nyankole, Rukiga, Shona, Soga (Lusoga), Swahili, Yoruba.
WAXAL goes live today. Details at goo.gle/IntroducingWaxal.
Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has unveiled its Q4 2025 Network Performance Reports, showcasing nationwide quality boosts fueled by over $1 billion in industry investments and sharper regulatory focus.
NCC
Speaking at the launch, Dr. Aminu Maida, executive vice chairman, NCC, hailed the Ookla-backed data as proof of NCC’s drive for transparent, evidence-driven oversight of Nigeria’s digital growth.
The reports track real-user experiences across cities, villages, highways, and nascent 5G areas, revealing faster median download speeds in both urban and rural spots versus Q3 2025.
Video streaming quality gaps between city and countryside have shrunk, thanks to a beefed-up 4G network—yet 5G rollout lags, upload speeds falter, and coverage holes linger in spots.
Maida said NCC is leaning on operators to fix these via spectrum tweaks, infrastructure drives, and stricter service rules, with 2025’s 2,850 new sites already paying off in broader reach and capacity.
Operators pledge even bigger spends in 2026 to keep the momentum, aiming for top-tier connectivity and economic inclusion for all Nigerians.
“We’ll turn these insights into real gains in service and access,” Maida affirmed, calling for sustained industry teamwork.
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