Brace Up For Revenue Generation, Pantami Tells NIGCOMSAT

The minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof Isah Ibrahim Pantami, has tasked the Nigerian Communications Satellite Ltd (NIGCOMSAT) to rise to the current challenges in the space industry and reposition itself to achieve its core mandate, which is revenue generation for the government.

Prof Pantami gave the charge on Friday at a one-day NIGCOMSAT ministerial retreat with the theme: “Re-engineering NIGCOMSAT Management for 4th Indigenous Revolution and Exponential Growth.”

Pantami noted that the future of NIGCOMSAT as a revenue-generating agency, depends largely on its performance, stressing that it would be difficult to defend any institution of government that is not delivering its mandate effectively, especially as the country pushes into the 4th industrial revolution with digital technology.

He noted that the current management team of NIGCOMSAT has the capacity to turn things around even as he lamented “that the major challenge with government companies is that the employees behave like they are core civil servants and don’t think of turning things around.

“Ordinarily civil servants are the engine of government but unfortunately in Nigeria, the reverse is the case, with few exceptions.”

The managing director/chief executive officer, NIGCOMSAT Ltd, Engr Tukur Mohammed Lawal, noted that the agency has the resources to reposition itself under his leadership, promising to make the agency more “customer-centric.”

He said further that his team needs to restore the confidence in the Nigerian public in their effort towards re-energising the company even as he urged the minister to help in fast-tracking an additional satellite to Nigeria’s space industry.