As earlier reported by the TechnologyMirror following his nomination for ministerial post, the former Director-General of Nigeria Information and Technology Development Agency, NITDA, Dr. Ali Isa Pantami from Gombe State has been sworn in as the new Communications Minister.
Pantami is the second core ICT professional taking over the management of the ICT industry in Nigeria after the exit of Dr. Omobola Johnson in 2015.
His predecessor, a lawyer, Barrister Adebayo Shittu appointment was largely criticised by a large cross section of the industry and described as putting a square peg in a round hole.
Pantami also referred to as Mr Local Content due to his passion for driving the local content policy of the Federal Government was recently awarded the prestigious Titans of Tech Award in recognition of his outstanding leadership in the promotion of local content for national development.
Under him, NITDA witnessed unwavering commitment to local content and enhanced the purchase of indigenous brand of ICT devices by over 60% in the last three years.
Pantami’s leadership tenure is expected to reduce the about 80 per cent of ICT hardware and software purchases of the country to barest.
Indeed under him, the cumulative effect of these efforts, resulted to an unprecedented mark of 13.63% in Q4 of 2018 in the nation’s GDP.
Following his appointment, the coast is now clear for Pantami as Minister to bring the desired transformation that the ICT industry yearns for in the last four years which eluded it since the exit of Dr. Omobola Johnson.
He will be expected to provide purposeful leadership in the regulation of the ICT industry in Nigeria and thereby restore confidence in indigenous technology development which consequently will lead to more foreign direct investment in the IT sector than any other sectors since 2018.
Mr Local Content is also expected to ensure that a large percentage of the procurement by MDAs are actually awarded to Nigeria indigenous firms a development that will promote the job creation policy of the present government.
He hails from Pantami District of Gombe State.
Prior to his appointment as the DG/CEO of NITDA, he worked as an Academic in various capacities. Before joining formal school he spent more than 4 years in Tsangaya Traditional School learning the Glorious Qur’an. He later attended and completed both his Primary and Secondary Education in Gombe State with excellent results. After secondary education he spent almost 3 more years learning advanced Religious knowledge.
He attended Federal University of Technology Bauchi (popularly known as Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University) where he obtained his first degree of BTech in Computer Science in 2003.
He also obtained an MSc in Computer Science 2008/2009 session and MBA in Technology Management 2010/2011 session from the same University.
In addition, he obtained his PhD in Computer Information Systems and Post Graduate Certificate in Research Methods from the prestigious Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, Scotland, and United Kingdom. He is a CCNA certified professional.
He lectured at the Federal University of Technology Bauchi (ATBU), Nigeria for over a decade. He taught courses such as Multimedia, Software Engineering, Hardware Technology, Software Technology, Fundamentals of Software Engineering, Advance Programming languages, Management Information Systems, and Geographic Information Systems, among others. He also supervised over 8 postgraduate and over 100 undergraduate students.
Furthermore, he held many positions in the Faculty and was a member of 4 major University committees constituted by the University Council.
Furthermore, Dr Isa moved to the International Islamic University of Madinah where he served as an Associate Professor and Head of Technical Writing.
He also taught courses such as Operations Research, Software Engineering, Information Systems Application and Principles of Marketing. He was also the Secretary and member of three major committees: University Accreditation Committee, Staff Training and Development Committee, and Information Technology Committee.
Dr Isa has attended various capacity building programmes such as “Driving Strategic Innovation and Achieving High Performance throughout the Value Chain” at the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) Switzerland in collaboration with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, USA.
In addition, he also attended special training on “Digital Transformation in Government: Innovating Public Policy & Service, at Harvard University, USA.
His outstanding professionalism and integrity earned him the highest recognition in the global IT industry: The Fellowship of the British Computer Society (FBCS). He previously served as an IT consultant to many National industries.
He is also a fellow of the Institute of Information Management (FIIM). In addition, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami has been conferred with the award of Professional Fellowship of Nigerian Computer Society (FNCS).
Dr Isa is a recipient of many distinguished awards which includes but not limited to “ICT Promoter of the Year” awarded by the Nigerian News, “Pan Africa It Regulator of the Year” awarded by Centre for Cyber Awareness and Development, “Convergence Leaders Recognition Award” awarded at the West African Convergence Conference, “ICT CEO of the Year” awarded at the National Media and Information Technology Conference for Tertiary Institutions, “Nelson Mandela Leadership Award’’ for contributions to the development of ICT in Africa, “Covenant University Recognition Award’’ at the 4th Covenant University Conference on e-Governance in Nigeria, “University of Maiduguri Appreciation Award’’ for value support to the University, “Honorary Award’’ at the Inauguration Ceremony of the ISACA Lagos, Nigeria Board, “KPMG Appreciation Award” for contribution as a speaker at the 2017 KPMG Africa Cyber Security Conference, “Faculty Sustainable Award’’ at the 1st International Conference on ICT for National Development and its Sustainability, by the Faculty of Communication and Information Science, University of Ilorin and “Excellence In Leadership Award” by Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON).
Dr Isa has been a keynote speaker at both national and international ICT fora. For example, the most recent among them is the 11th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance (ICEGOV2018) organized by United Nations University (UN-EGOV) at the National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG), where he delivered a Keynote Address on Nigeria’s Digital Transformation Agenda: NITDA’s Vision and Strategy.
He was also the Keynote Speaker at the 13th international Conference on Electronics, Computers and Computation at Nile University of Nigeria (ICECCO2017) where he delivered a Keynote Address on Electronics, Computers and Computation: Nigeria’s Giant Strides at Developing the ICT Sector.
He has authored more than a dozen books on many areas ranging from Technology, Religion and Peaceful coexistence and over 15 publications in International Journals.
The most recent publications include: (i) A New IoT Architecture for a Sustainable IoT Adoption, (ii) Towards Diversification of Nigeria Economy through Adoption of IoT for Smart and Precision Agriculture, (iii) A Model and Architecture for Building a Sustainable National Open Government Data (OGD) Portal, (iv) Client /Server Interface Monitoring and Management, (v) ICT Globalisation and an Analysis of e-Learning in Nigeria and the United Kingdom Universities, (vi) Technological Adoption of e-commerce in Nigeria, and (vii) Information and Communication Technology, a Tool for Fraud Prevention and Detection, among others.
Isa has attended many international conferences, workshops and symposiums in Switzerland, England, France, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Dubai, Thailand, Kuwait, Egypt, Scotland, South Korea, USA, Republic of Ireland, UAE, Turkey, Rwanda, South Africa, India, Germany, Italy, Spain, Morrocco, Tunisia, Cameroon, Niger Republic among others.
Since assuming office as the DG/CEO of NITDA, he has impacted his extensive knowledge and experience as a thoroughbred professional on the Nigerian IT Sector.
His initiatives in the sector are largely responsible for the renewed vigour and focus in the industry. He has sustained an unprecedented level of professionalism and compliance in the sector.
He is a member of many professional bodies such as BCS, NCS & CPN.
Dr Isa is married with children.
Isaiah Erhiawarien
