As Nigeria’s ICT sector bids farewell to Adebayo Shittu

Come Wednesday, May 29, Adebayo Shittu will cease to be the minister of information and communications technology (ICT).

Depending on how President Buhari wakes up the next day, Shittu has a slim chance of being repointed as a member of the cabinet. Given that most ministerial appointments and reappointments are determined by the individual’s or his sponsors’ stewardship during a major election, if the memories of the loss which the ruling party, All Progressives Party (APC) suffered in Oyo, the minister’s state is anything to serve, Shittu’s return is highly unlikely.

That is an outcome many stakeholders in the booming tech ecosystem in Nigeria are hoping to become reality. Bosun Tijani, co-founder of Co-Creation Hub recently showed how deep the frustration with Shittu as minister has become.

“Building a base for science and technology for Africa shouldn’t be business as usual,” Tijani tweeted from his handle @bosuntijani. “It is probably the only way to guarantee any sort of future for the continent. This is why the DNA of the ecosystem matters. It is why it is disservice to appoint Shittu as Minister in 2019.”

Oluyomi Ojo, co-founder of Printivo and Victor Asemota, Africa partner at Alta Global Ventures and prominent voice in the tech ecosystem, have also called for better leadership in Nigeria’s ministry of ICT.

Part of that frustration is the general perception that his appointment as minister in 2015 was largely a compensation for his role in the election of President Muhammadu Buhari, rather for his competence. Throughout his four years in office Shittu has done very little to disabuse the minds of many that he was not the right man for the job. Instead, his most documented achievements include political upheavals in his home state Oyo and a failed attempt to clinch the APC party ticket for the state’s gubernatorial election which led to a fallout with the leadership of the party. He had also confessed to not attending the one-year compulsory service and getting his National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificate.

Nonetheless, it should be said that the ICT ministry under Adebayo saw a few positive developments. One of them was the plan to rebrand NIPOST from mere transmission of letters and postal materials to a profitable venture. The plan was to create new business arms including NIPOST Banking and Insurance Company, NIPOST Property and development, NIPOST Transport Company, and NIPOST e-Government Services Company. As far as reality goes, none of those new businesses has seen the light of day. However, many people who have used the services of NIPOST in recent times have noted the improved services.

Under his stewardship, investment into the telecommunications sector also increased to about $5 billion every quarter. Some would however argue that this was more of private sector doggedness than any serious display of leadership thinking from Shittu’s ministry. For instance, while the number of active voice subscribers rose to 165 million and 104 million Nigerians took to the internet, the quality of internet hardly improved despite attaining over 33 per cent broadband penetration. This was because the broadband penetration was mostly focused on mobile wireless; the Shittu administration largely ignored fixed wireless.

“Shittu’s ministry only builds computer centres here and there,” said Laolu Samuel-Biyi, co-founder of SureGifts Group, a fintech company.

Under Shittu’s watch, Etisalat Group terminated its management agreement with its Nigerian brand and left the country. 9Mobile which was left from that inglorious transaction has struggled since to attract a suitor. There was never a time Shittu brought his personality to bear on the sale of 9Mobile. The same scenario has continuously repeated itself throughout the MTN and CBN dispute.

Nigeria’s ICT sector has become one of the most important segments of the economy given the need to drive the new digital economy. Industry experts have also called for public servants that understand the potential and have the vision to create an enabling environment for innovators to flourish in order to attract the necessary investment in the sector. African countries like Rwanda, Kenya, Ghana and South Africa are taking the question of leadership of the sector more serious than they would have many years ago.

They realise for instance, that without ICT the internet that the efficiency and productivity of other sectors largely depend on in the new digital era will not be possible. ICT is the bedrock of technological innovations. Playing politics with such a ministry is not in anyone’s best interest.