Pantami, Leveraging Digital Economy in His Hometown-Gombe -By Adamu Usman Garko

Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami in his infallible efforts towards ensuring that the good people of his state – Gombe state enjoy the dividends of democracy, and his representation of the state and its people at the federal level; has continued to strive all he can, that in terms of any available dividend or benefit derivable, his people are not left out.

So much so that he has graciously contributed towards creating an ICT hub that helps engaging youth in ICT training and capacity building, expanding digital literacy and inclusion in his gigantic and determined stride to see that he takes Gombe state to the next level. And since the commissioning of the dittoed project in September 30, 2019, many youth have shown commitment, exuberance and willingness towards making a change in their lives considering the effort of the Honourable Minister’s readiness to give them all assistance necessary to make them bouyant and resilient enough to become self-reliant.

It could be remembered that on the 23rd October,2019, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari granted the request of Dr. Pantami to rename the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy in order to further help expand its horizon and strengthening the mandate of digitalizing the Nigerian economy considering how other global economies like Scotland, Thailand, etc are doing well in terms of the adoption of the digital economy. Since the renaming, plans and strategies have been put in place to ensure the fulfilment of the mandate. In fact this year’s edition of the annual event of e-Nigeria Summit was centred on the official implementation of the ‘National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy’ as unveiled by the country’s president.

Since the emergence of the Minister, as a stakeholder in the effort to refashioning Nigeria for greater height,  the Ministry has made rapid progress and growth and has touched the lives of many Nigerians positively like never before. In the same vein,  the Minister has made impeccable efforts to ensure that adequate support and attention are given to Gombe state, vis a vis his effort of distributing free laptops to schools and individuals, securing jobs for qualified people of the state and as mentioned at the beginning of this piece—training and equipping the youth of Gombe state with necessary support.

Apart from the afore mentioned he has also facilitated the choice of Gombe state as the venue for the 7th meeting on National council on Communications and Digital Economy which will gather state commissioners—ICT, Development Partners and Stakeholders in the state with the theme; Leveraging The Gain of ICT in Developing and Implementing A Digital Economy Strategy for Nigeria scheduled to hold from Monday 2nd – Friday to 6th December, 2019 at Banquet Hall, Government House, Gombe, Gombe state. The event promises to be the first of its kind in the entire history of the state and would, definitely serve as a beginning of many good and juicy things to happen in the state. This is a veritable indication of what happens when mandate is given to one who is very passionate about the progress of his nation, who is committed to the overall ascendancy and betterment of the masses over his own personal gains and glory.

Adamu Usman Garko writes from Gombe, Gombe state. Nigeria.