Meet Isa Pantami Nigeria’s New Minister of Communication;What Should Stakeholders Expect?

Following weeks of speculation, Mr Isa Pantami, the immediate past Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has been sworn-in as Nigeria’s new Minister of Communications.

The announcement of the New Minister of Communications follows the swearing-in ceremony of President Muhammadu Buhari’s new ministers at an inaugural Federal Executive Council meeting today, 3 months after a second term swearing-in.

Meet Dr Isa Pantami

Prior to his appointment, he was a professor of Computer Information System at the Islamic University of Madinah, Saudi Arabia, where he teaches at the Faculty of Computing and Information Systems.

Before this, he lectured at the Federal University of Technology Bauchi (ATBU), Nigeria, for over a decade where 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.

Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami holds a B.Tech, M.Sc (Computing & IT) and also MBA in (Technology Management). In addition, he also holds a Post Graduate Certificate in Research Methods, Teaching and a Doctorate from the University of Aberdeen.

What to Expect

Unlike his predecessor, Dr Pantami is not very new to the Technology and communications space. Perhaps, the industry will experience the introduction of relevant focus activities and industry enabling regulations.

His achievements at NITDA are not very visible. His opinions on the varied ills facing the tech industry in Nigeria are not exceptional either.

But Dr Pantami’s major call will be actualising Nigeria’s suffering broadband ubiquity plans laid by Dr Omobola Johnson. There are expectations that he will work with the presidency to ensure an enabling environment for businesses, profitable prospects for investors and conducive space for talents.

Our fingers are crossed.