Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isah Ibrahim Pantami, has charged the newly inaugurated Governing Boards of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and the Nigerian Postal Services(NIPOST) to be law abiding in the discharge of their responsibilities in cascading Nigeria’s digital economy policy.
The Minister gave this charge in his remarks after he administered the oath of office to the 44 members of the three agencies under the Ministry in Abuja yesterday.
Pantami commended President Muhammadu Buhari for accepting the recommendation of the Ministry to reappoint most of the members to serve as Chairmen and members of the board to support the oversight of the parastatals, and cascade the National Policies that are being implemented by the supervising ministry.
He tasked the board members to limit themselves within the responsibilities assigned to them by the various enabling Acts of the Parastatals and other government policies and directives that may come up from time to time.
“More than 90 per cent of the board members have been reappointed, this reappointment came as a result of our recommendation because most of you have displayed maturity in the way and manner you interact with the parastatals.
“We hear so many complaints from other ministeries where every day you discover board members are fighting the management and they completely neglect their responsibilities and whenever they meet they only discuss contracts” he said, adding that the ministry will not tolerate such
“Carry out your responsibilities within the armbit of the law and the constitution of Nigeria. Government has appointed all of you to discharge certain responsibilities and cannot condone any form of insorbodination. Boards have no power to award contracts, you are
not part of their management or the tenders board, only the management that is represented on the tenders board,” he said.
Out of the 44 board members, NIMC has 17, NITDA has 19 while NIPOST has 8.
According to Pantami, the ICT sector has been recording tremendous achievements, adding in terms data base, Nigeria has hit over 87 million within the last two years from 42 million it inherited from the last 13 years.
The chairman of the Governing Board of NIMC, Prof. Jalo El-Nafaty, who spoke on behalf of all the chairmen and members of all the boards, lauded the federal government for giving them the opportunity to serve.
He said “ we assure and promise the ministry that we will do our best to perform our functions optimally and move the nation forward.”
