Buhari prohibits government officials from using private emails

The president, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (ret.), on Thursday instructed government officials not to use private emails for official purposes.

He also ordered all federal government agencies to migrate their websites to the relevant government domains.

“I hereby direct that all government officials refrain from using private emails for official purposes,” Buhari said as he launched the National Policy for the Second Line Domains of the Nigerian Government at the State House, Abuja.

The president’s special adviser on media and publicity, Femi Adesina, made the announcement in a statement he signed on Thursday titled “In launching two digital economy policies, President Buhari says diversification has been most successful in the sector.’

Buhari, who praised the new policy, ordered all government officials to refrain from using private emails for official purposes, adding that all federal public institutions should migrate their websites to the relevant government domains.

At the launch of the national data policy, the president also welcomed SpaceX’s recent deployment of Starlink services in Nigeria, saying the country now has 100 percent broadband penetration.

He said: “We are pleased that Starlink services are already deployed in Nigeria. This makes Nigeria the first and only African country to have this link.

“With the deployment of Starlink services in Nigeria, we have 100 percent broadband penetration in Nigeria.”

According to him, Nigeria’s digital economy has been the most thriving sector in the diversification of the economy, saving the federal government over N45.7 billion in IT projects.

He said: “On October 17 and 18, 2022, I chaired the ministerial retreat and we had independence assessors from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and KPMG.

“The approval of IT projects has saved the federal government more than N45.70bn.”
The president noted that Nigeria’s progress towards a thriving digital economy began on October 17, 2019, when he redesigned the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy and restructured its mandate.

“We are proud of the great progress of our digital economy sector and its impact on the various sectors of our economy.

“I commend the honorable minister for his commitment to the implementation of the digital economy mandate.

“As part of our commitment to ensure the sustainability of our profits in the digital economy sector, we have taken steps to institutionalize the process by developing relevant policies and strategies,” Buhari further stated.

He revealed that the regime has introduced 21 new national policies and strategies since 2019, and that the two new policies launched on Thursday will accelerate the development of the country’s digital economy sector.

He explained: “In the last three and a half years we have intensified policy development, program design and project implementation in the digital economy sector and the impact has been very impressive.

“For example, we have succeeded in diversifying our economy to a large extent, which is clear when we look at the contribution of the ICT sector to our Gross Domestic Product in Q2 2022, which amounted to 18.44 percent compared to of the oil sector’s contribution to GDP, which was 6.33 percent over the same period.”

Earlier, Minister of Communications and Digital Economy Prof. Isa Pantami said that the two policies launched were a result of compliance with the president’s directive to come up with a national policy previously approved by the Federal Executive Council.

According to Pantami, the policy is intended to consolidate the gains made to date in the digital ecosystem.