Feelers have shown that the Minister of Communications Technology, Dr Adebayo Shittu, may have conceded to the pressure of telecoms stakeholders to delist critical telecoms materials from the list of 41 items barred from easy access to forest and include them Forex priority list.
This was made public by the Minister, who disclosed while inaugurating the ICT, Computers/Devices Service Centre in Abuja, revealed that the ministry is collaborating with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to include the ICT and Telecom industry on Forex priority list. The Minister, represented by Mr. John Emeawa, Director, Planning, Research and Statistics (PRS), in the Ministry disclosed that the centre was established by the Ministry and Certified Computers Manufacturing of Nigeria (CCMON).
Shittu noted further that there is an ongoing discussion between the ministry and the CBN to include the ICT and Telecom industry in the list of sectors to be accorded Forex priority.
According to him, “In this regard, I will proudly say that Nigeria has an array of young people with great energy and creative abilities to launch Nigeria into the league of world leading economies by leveraging on ICT”.
The minister said current governments’ efforts for the nation are to adopt a deliberate, planned and sustainable national programme for developing a competent, knowledge-driven workforce and society. He said sustained access to ICT tools was a critical component of competent and knowledge-driven workforce.
