As Nigeria’s ICT sector bids farewell to Adebayo Shittu

From today, May 29, Adebayo Shittu, will cease to be Nigeria’s minister of information and communications technology (ICT).

Depending on how President Buhari wakes up today, Shittu has a slim chance of being reappointed as a member in his the cabinet. Most ministerial appointments and reappointments are determined by the individual’s or his sponsor’s stewardship during a major election, and if the loss the ruling All Progressives Party (APC) suffered in Oyo, the minister’s state, is anything to go by, then 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 had 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 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.