Employ Fresh Ideas To Boost Growth, FG Tells NIGCOMSAT

Employ Fresh Ideas To Boost Growth, FG Tells NIGCOMSAT

TECHDIGEST – As Nigeria plans to launch a second satellite (Sat 2) into orbit to boost the nation’s satellite communication capacity, the federal government has charged the Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited (NIGCOMSAT) to inject more innovative ideas into its operations.
The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Pantami, who gave the advice during a one-day working visit to NIGCOMSAT in Lugbe Abuja, told the staff of the company that the innovation in the agency is not enough and needs to be improved upon.

Pantami charged them to turn the institution around in order to justify the suspension of the proposed privatization plan.

He said: ‘‘Core values should be the guiding principle that must be adopted without compromise, to ensure that any institution is successful.  You need to be customer-centric, discover the failure of services before they realize it, fix the problem and come up with innovative ideas. The innovation in the agency is not enough and needs to be improved upon

“You need to change your perception because you are not part of core civil servants, you are a company and should by far be above civil servants. One of the reasons our civil service has been failing is that feeling that we are government employees, we have nothing to lose and whatever happens, we will be paid our salaries.

‘‘There are other companies that are ready to come up and start providing similar services with you. The efforts made to stop privatization of NIGCOMSAT is for the good of the company and for the good of the country.’’

‘‘You need to turn things around through the unique and effective service you are able to provide and revenue you generate for government. It is a difficult task to revive an institution and make it very successful, that you must make. The challenge of reviving NIGCOMSAT is not just a necessity but an obligation for all the staff,’’ Pantami added.

On the planned launch of Nigeria’s second satellite, the Minister said, ‘‘since 2019, I have been so passionate about the success of NIGCOMSAT. Starting with the suspension of the privatization of NIGCOMSAT. As a matter of fact, I have secured the approval of Mr. President for purchasing another Satellite.

The Minister added that he had approved the establishment of some subsidiaries under NIGCOMSAT, as part of the ongoing effort to revive the institution back to the part of progress and productivity.
Speaking on the revolution in NITDA, Pantami said through innovative policies and implementation, he succeeded in raising NITDA revenue from N7 billion to N19 billion annually, an agency that was supposed to be scrapped according to Orosanaya Report.

‘‘We revived NITDA and the agency has become a reference point for any IT project.’’

On NIMC, he said they had also secured the approval of N25 billion for the agency infrastructure upgrade.

‘‘Look at NIMC and what we have achieved, the NIN environment since the inception of National Identity Card to 2020 when I assumed supervision of the commission even after billions have been spent was below 30 million, and this is direct enrollment without leveraging on any database.

‘‘Before I assumed supervision, the annual enrollment used to be around 1.5 to 2million but between October 2020 and December 2021, we increased the NIN environment by 30 million in using the obsolete infrastructure.

“Mr President has approved N25 billion for the infrastructure but till today, no money has been released from October 2020 to date but we are still doing the work. That is why thinking outside the box is necessary.

‘‘The achievement of this one year has been better than the previous 10 years and within that 10 years there was a time N100 billion was released but this one no single Kobo was released to us. As the DG of NITDA, I increased the revenue generation of NITDA from N7 billion annually to N19 billion. Leverage the opportunity and turn things around.

‘‘Before I became the Minister, there was an Orunsanye report that recommended that NITDA should be scrapped and that the IT clearance should be given to Galaxy Backbone but today nobody is talking about the scrapping of NITDA because the institution has turned things around.

‘‘If you turn things around, you will go back and sleep but if you fail, you will be struggling So the challenge is on your table, the earlier you use 2022 and make NIGCOMSAT better the better for all of you but if you fail to do that, many people are there waiting for me to go so that they can execute their agenda.
‘‘2022 is the best year for you to turn things around but if you fail to do that, it will be the worst year for you I don’t pray for that, I pray for the best for you but you must get your priority right,’’ he said.

Earlier in her welcome address, the Managing Director of NIGCOMSAT, Dr Abimbola Alale said the coming of the Minister has raised the hope and confidence of the staff and management of the agency through his unprecedented support and increase in yearly budgetary allocation.

She expressed delight for the support being given to the agency by the Minister and assured him that her staff would take up the new challenge and ensure that they deliver on the mandate given by the Minister.