Buhari Approves N5bn For NIMC – Pantami
The federal government has hacked up the capital budget of the National Identity Management Commission, NIMC from 500 million to N5 billion.
The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ibrahim Pantami disclosed this on Tuesday at the formal presentation of NITDA’s new Condition and Scheme of Service in Abuja. He said the Commission’s capital budget was raised up from meagre N500-700 million usually approved for the Commission to now N5 billion to enable it meet up with its needs and mandate in line with the present reality in the sector.
Presentating the new Condition and Scheme of service to the Director General of NITDA, Pantami said the new Scheme and Conditions of Service will enable the agency effectively key into the digital economy mandate of the Federal Government, enhance the corporate culture of the Agency, attract and retain highly skilled staff, amongst others. Key areas in the new scheme of service include the introduction of paternity and compassionate leave, responsibility award, transfer benefits and staff home ownership loan, among others. “This Scheme of Service will serve as a veritable tool for making the Agency more functional as it develops into becoming one of the most strategic government institutions in Nigeria.
“It provides the approved cadre for the Agency and specifies the skills and certifications required for appointment and promotion in the Agency. “The Scheme identifies 15 different cadres for the Agency. The Conditions of Service is to re-engineer the operations and structure of the Agency with the aim of providing an enabling environment for effective strategy development and execution. This will match the global industry requirements that are needed to develop and regulate the innovative and agile digital economy industry. “The Scheme identifies 15 different cadres for the Agency. The Conditions of Service is to re-engineer the operations and structure of the Agency with the aim of providing an enabling environment for effective strategy development and execution. This will match the global industry requirements that are needed to develop and regulate the innovative and agile digital economy industry.
“The Scheme and Conditions of Service are a culmination of a process I commenced as Director-General/CEO of NITDA in 2016 and continued till August 2019, when I was appointed as a Minister. This process was continued by the current Director-General/CEO, Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, after I resumed as a Minister on the 21st of August, 2019,” he said. The Minister who expressed gratitude to the President for approving both schemes and other policies charged NITDA staff to ‘ridicule their previous achievements innorder to surpass them. In line with this charge and as part of the implementation of the Conditions and Scheme of Service, he directed the Board and Management of NITDA to ensure that there is a significant improvement in the performance of the agency.
“We are committed to attracting and retaining highly skilled and highly motivated personnel in the Digital Economy sector, including all the parastatals under our supervision,” said Pantami. In the same vein, he directed the Management of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to develop a Career Structure (Scheme of Service) and Conditions of Service for NIMC. In his response, the NITDA DG, Mallam Abdullahi Kashifu said with the approval of the new Condition and Scheme of service for NITDA, the agency has joined the league of top public organisations in Nigeria. While, expressing gratitude to the Federal government for the gesture and promised that the agency would reciprocate it with hard work. “The foundation was led by the minister and today is completion of the job he started when he was in the agency.
“He has completely changed the agency, NITDA has now joined the league of top public organizations in Nigeria. “Many people did not know about NITDA before his appointment but today, NITDA is the only government agency leading IT intervention. “We are committed to deliver on all initiatives that would move the sector forward. “The agency has been transformed in line with the National Digital Economy policy. We have recalibrated all out initiatives to align with your vision and achieve President’s agenda to diversify the economy.” In his own remarks, the Board Chairman of NITDA, Dr. Abubakar Saheed said the event was a culmination of the Minister and President Buhari’s commitment to cause a paradigm shift in the economy. “Buhari has made a difference. It is not surprising therefore that we are here to mark this occasion.
“He has stood firm in changing the paradigm. The minister has beenna game changer since he came on board. “If there is no work, there will be no output. We have seen performances and input in the economy, your performance is impacting on the economy. “The documents were approved because the DG had done his homework well. We expect increase of output from the agency. Hope they will respond positively to the gesture,” said the Chairman.
