Communications Minister sets targets for CEOs

By Oladele Dada, Lagos

The Nigerian Minister of Communications, Dr Isa Pantami has set targets for the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of the parastatals and agencies under the Ministry.

According to a statement signed by the Head, Information and Public Relation Unit of the Ministry Mrs. Phil Oshodin in Abuja that the minister had urged the CEOs to significantly improve the level of their performance to reflect the `next level’ paradigm of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration

The Minister assured the CEOs of the Federal Government’s support as they discharge their duties and reminded them of his commitment to sanction any parastatal that fails to step up its performance.

Pantami urged Galaxy Backbone to improve the reach and coverage of its services in the public sector and to significantly improve the quality of services provided.

He said in curbing the numerous security challenges faced by the county, the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC should bring to an end the issue of sales of pre-registered, unregistered and partially-registered SIM cards, especially.

“NCC should stem the tide of illegal deduction of the data of subscribers and work towards the downward review of the cost of data; and to ensure compliance with the maximum 2% Call Drop Rate directive to telecom operators.”

Pantami called on Nigerian Communications Satellite (NIGCOMSAT) Limited to significantly improve its level of visibility across the country; and to ensure great improvement in the quality of its services.

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For the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) the Minister tasked the agency to improve  the efficiency of its letter and parcel delivery service; and to increase the effective area of its coverage in the country.

Pantami directed the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), to have a greater level of focus on increasing local content development and patronage in the hardware and software sub-sectors; and

He urged NITDA to strengthen the execution of its IT project clearance mandate to capture more projects by the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs)

Also to ensure the promotion and adoption of the Nigeria e-Government Inter-operability Framework (Ne-GIF) by the MDAs”.

He noted that Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF)  should ensure there is a sustainability model in place for all the projects deployed and  prepare plan to reduce the access gaps in the rural, unserved and underserved areas.

Pantami emphasized on  Ministry’s roles of supervision and provision of broad policies for all the parastatals within the Ministry as their performance would be assessed on a monthly basis

He advised them to be passionate, hardworking and ensure that they exhibit high level of integrity in the discharge of their duties.

Dr. Pantami urged them to follow due process in their activities as championed by the President and also directed them to communicate these values and targets to their staff.

The Minister encouraged synergy, unity and the forging of a harmonious inter-Agency relationship among the parastatals.  He also assured them of his total commitment to ensuring that no obstacle stands in the way of the successful execution of their mandates.