Nigeria’s Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, has directed all agencies under the supervision of the Ministry to provide research grants for innovative solutions geared towards fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.
The agencies include the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Nigerian Communications Satellite Systems, Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST), and Galaxy Backbone.
In his remarks during the Nigeria COVID-19 innovation challenge; virtual demo day and prize-giving ceremony organized by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Pantami further directed the agencies to incubate the proposed solutions and Transfer / Deploy solutions to relevant government agencies.
At the ceremony research grants of 2.2 Million Naira were presented to 3 innovative Nigerian startups who participated in the innovation challenge.
According to Dr. Pantami, “With COVID-19, there is a need to fast-track the implementation of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy for a Digital Nigeria. ICT will play a great role in supporting contact tracing and physical distancing in the war against the virus.”
