President Muhammadu Buhari and governors from five states of the federation on Wednesday endorsed a framework for the harmonisation of the digital economy, and e-governmance initiatives at federal and state levels.
It was learnt that Buhari, Imo, Lagos, Nasarawa, Kaduna and Edo States Governors made this known at the inaugural meeting of the presidential Council on Digital Economy and e-government master plan in Abuja.
This is as President Buhari charged the council members on deploying a concerted approach towards implementing the initiative.
Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Pantami, who presided over the meeting on behalf of Buhari stated that there have been pockets of digital initiatives going on at the state levels which are not in alignment with the Federal government’s digital economy initiatives.
He recalled launching the National Digital Economy and Policy Strategy (NDEPS) in November 2019 with eight pillars which required the involvement of actors at all levels.
The President said the digital economy cannot be implemented in silos, with FG bearing the responsibility, adding that states and sub-nationals have a significant role to play in ensuring the achievement of NDEPS.
“Many important things have been discussed and we have agreed on all of them and it is because of this we plan to have another meeting as soon as possible.
“The secretariat has been directed to come up with frameworks for the digital economy that can be implemented in our state.
“Many states have good initiatives on the digital economy, however, there is a lack of harmonisation of their activities.
“Framework is going to be developed so that our sub-nationals will play their own role and FG will continue to provide intervention where necessary.
“From the time Mr president launched the policy to date, a lot has been achieved and in some of the pillars, more than 70 per cent have been achieved. However, still, there are issues that require engaging the sub-nationals to look at decision making, implementation, coming up with frameworks, getting their input with regards to regulation and many more and that cannot be easily achieved. It is because of this, this council has been inaugurated, today is our first official meeting after the inauguration by Mr President”, he said.
