09/08/2026
HOW PROF. ISA ALI PANTAMI TRANSFORMED NITDA AND TOOK NIGERIA'S MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS & DIGITAL ECONOMY TO A HIGHER LEVEL
When Professor Isa Ali Pantami was appointed Director General of NITDA on 26 September 2016, the agency was described as "a waltzing story of failures and inadequacies" that had "abdicated its responsibilities" since 2001. He met an NITDA that was so weak. Pantami rebuild it from the ground up and make IT the driver of Nigeria’s economy.
At NITDA, Pantami focused on re-engineering operations and structure to provide an enabling environment. He pushed for an employee-centric Condition and Scheme of Service that created 15 different cadres, introduced paternity leave, staff housing loans, and certifications required for promotion. The goal was to attract and retain highly skilled staff that could match global industry requirements. This laid the foundation for NITDA to become one of the most strategic government institutions in Nigeria.
On 21 August 2019, Pantami was sworn in as Minister of Communications. Under his leadership the ministry was renamed Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy to reflect a new focus: moving Nigeria from a resource-based economy to a knowledge-based digital economy. He supervised 6 key agencies including NCC, NITDA, NIMC, NIGCOMSAT, Galaxy Backbone, and NIPOST, and chaired 15 committees including the National Broadband Council and National Identity for Development.
Before 2019, the ICT sector was not a major revenue contributor to the federal government. Under Pantami, the story changed dramatically.
The Ministry and its parastatals generated over N1.054 trillion in just two years. That translates to about N44 billion every month, or over N1.4 billion every day.
The breakdown: about N360 billion came from Spectrum allocation by the National Frequency Management Council to NCC and NBC. Another over N600 billion was paid by ICT Companies as taxes through FIRS. Over N94 billion was also generated and approved for personnel, capital projects, and interventions.
He also claimed the ministry’s quarterly revenue rose from N51.3 million to N408.7 billion during his tenure, with NCC remittances alone hitting N201 billion in 2021 from 5G spectrum auction.
Revenue came because access expanded. On assumption of office in August 2019, broadband pe*******on was 33.72%, By 2023 it rose to 44.65%, adding close to 13 million new broadband users. 4G base stations jumped from 13,823 to 36,751 — a 165.86% increase. 4G coverage went from 23% to 77.52%. The cost of data also crashed from N1,200 per GB to about N350, making the internet affordable for millions.
Pantami said clearly that government would leverage ICT and entrepreneurship to increase job creation for youth. His ministry directly delivered on that. 355,610 direct and indirect jobs were created through digital economy programs.
Beyond that, over 219,000 Nigerians directly benefited from training on digital skills, and MoUs with Microsoft, Google and Huawei were signed to train more than 5 million Nigerians. He also commissioned IT Innovation hubs like the one in Katsina named after President Buhari to mentor young tech talents.
To sustain growth, 16 National Policies were developed and implemented. Over 1,667 ICT projects/centres were established across the country, with 455 more ongoing. The IT Projects Clearance Programme alone saved the government over N5.4 billion. Digital Identity also grew massively — NIN enrollments rose from less than 40 million to over 90 million, creating a foundation for e-governance and financial inclusion.
Pantami’s tenure proved that digital economy can be Nigeria’s new oil. The ICT sector grew by 14.70% in Q4 2020, making it the fastest growing sector and the only one with double digits. By focusing on policy, infrastructure, skills, and revenue efficiency, he turned a ministry that was once just about "telecoms" into the engine room for jobs and revenue. For millions of Nigerian youths, the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy under him stopped being about regulation alone — it became about opportunity.
—AAG.
