Governors Babagana Zulum of Borno state, Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe State and Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State have collectively advocated the consolidation of the achievements recorded by the immediate past administration in the areas of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and digital assets to address the challenges facing the country.
Also, the former governor of Lagos State and current Minister of Works, Babatunde Fashola, has joined them in their campaign and stated that Nigeria should pay particular attention to artificial intelligence.
The governors made the call at the unveiling and public presentation of the book written by the immediate past Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Pantami in Abuja.
The book which chronicled Professor Pantami’s journey in public service and his scholarly contributions to ICT and digital economic growth in Nigeria was titled: “A Scholar’s Journey Navigating Academia.”
Nasarawa State Governor, Sule, praised Prof. Pantami for finishing the book in the lowest amount of time and expressed admiration for the former Minister’s support of placing a higher value on skills than degrees as a means of addressing unemployment and poverty.
Speaking in a similar way, Inuwa Yahaya, the chairman of the Northern Governors Forum and the governor of Gombe State, stated that Prof. Pantami’s name has become well-known in Gombe due to the development he supported and the rise in the population’s level of digital literacy.
Former Governor, Fashola urged Nigerians to read as many books as possible as Nigeria is rated as number 76 amongst countries with many book publications with over 300,000 titles in a year.
Other dignitaries in attendance included Senator Danjuma Goje, a former governor of Gombe State; Engr. Mele Kyari, the Group Managing Director of NNPCL; Kayode Fayemi, a former governor of Ekiti State; and Brig. Gen. Sani Usman, a retired army spokesman.