TECH PERSONALITY OF THE WEEK! Prof. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, FNCS, FBCS, FIIM

Prof. Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami) is the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Before his appointed as a Minister, he was the Director General (DG)/Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA). He is currently the Chief Digital Officer of the Federation, based on the National Policy for Virtual Engagements in Federal Public Institutions. He has also been a member of several Presidential and Inter-Ministerial Committees including Committee on Citizen Data Management and Harmonisation, National Committee on Export Promotion, Digital Identity Ecosystem Steering Committee, National Action Committee on African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA). He was also appointed as AfCFTA Champion for Communications and Digital Economy.

Since his appointment as the pioneer Minister of Digital Economy, Prof. Pantami has brought to bear, his focused, methodical and straightforward goal-getting style on the nation’s Information Communications Technology (ICT) industry with a lot of success story which includes a National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy, National Broadband Plan and addressing the lingering issue of excessive Right of Way charges and vandalism of telecommunication infrastructure.

It is on record, that under his watch, Nigeria successfully Auctioned 5G technology – first of its kind; The Nigerian Information Communications Technology (ICT) sector also contributed an unprecedented 18.44%, the highest ever ICT contribution to Nigeria’s GDP as Reported by National Bureau of Statistics. He also initiated the first Virtual Federal Executive Council meeting on the 13th of May 2020 and has been coordinating the technical aspects of the meetings since then.

Under Prof. Isa Pantami leadership, the parastatals under his supervision generated over N1 Trillion for the Federal Government in less than 2 years, which translates to an average of about N44 Billion every month or over N1.4 Billion every day.

Fondly called “The Digital Minister”, Prof. Pantami is a highly respected global Tech citizen and a revered Fellow of the Nigerian and British Computer Societies,

Prof. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami obtained a Bachelor of Technology in Computer Science (B.Tech), from the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), and proceeded to   acquire two Masters Degrees from the same institution in quick succession. One in Computer Science (MSc) and the other, an MBA in Technology Management with flying colours. His scholarly pursuits then led him to the renowned Robert Gordon University Aberdeen Scotland, where he bagged a Doctorate in Computer Science (PhD), specialising in Computer Information Systems.