Ministry Of Communication Technology Holds A Seminar On Managing The Change In The ICT Sector

The Federal Ministry of Communication Technology has begun a series of Seminar to prepare the Ministry to be capability ready for the anticipated fundamental change in the ICT sector, given Mr. President’s indication that “ICT is strategic for my change agenda” and that his government is poised to put the sector in the front burner given the sector’s potential contribution to job and wealth creation, combating of crime and to transparency in governance.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the seminar in the Ministry’s Conference Room on Wednesday, 5 August, 2015, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Dr Tunji Olaopa, said that it is important for the Core Team of the Ministry to begin prospecting based on Mr. President’s indication, so that when the full scope of the government change agenda is known it could respond from the point of knowledge.

He said that issues to be examined at the Seminar will include those that were thrown up by the outcome of the end-of-the year Retreat of the Ministry held in December 2014, fresh issues to be discussed with the guidance of Change Management Experts at the Seminar will include:

• Factors that will constitute the critical success for ensuring that change in ICT sector produce its intended consequences.
• Factors that would account for the Ministry of Communication Technology rating non-change, low change, or high-change in the context of the Change Agenda of the Ministry.
• Changes the Ministry needs to implement to set it in a change mode while at once resetting for change implementation capability readiness to support the FGN in achieving its Change Agenda, real time.
• Leadership mode the management team should have to be in tune with FGN’s Change mode. etc.

He described ‘Change’ as a specific, deliberate and spirited reconstructive framework for recalibrating existing policies and institutional configurations as well as the values that under pin them. His words, ‘As the President Muhammadu Buhari’s Change Management requirement is bound to be fundamental and disruptive, it stands to reason that as the specifics of government’s ICT policies and programmes will unfold, change in the sector requires strict regime of process, factors and framework that will guide a successful management of the outcomes for the benefit of growth in the national economy’.

Attending the seminar are senior officers of the Ministry.

The seminar will last for 2 days.

ERIC OJIEKWE