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The Senate Committee on Information Communication Technology ( ICT) has begged the Ministry of Communication to provide fund for its annual conference on cyber space security.
Senator Abdulfatahi Buhari (APC Oyo North), made the appeal while hosting the Minister of Communications, Abdulrasheed Adebayo Shittu for the Ministry’s 2018 budget defence in Abuja.
Also, the Vice Chairman of the Committee, Senator Fosta Ogola (PDP Bayelsa West) urged the Minister to include the budget in the N6.94billion 2018 budget estimates of the ministry.
“Mr Minister, I’ve gone through all your proposed expenditure of the 2018 budget of your ministry without seeing any headline or item capturing the annual cyberspace security workshop started by this Senate Committee last year.
“We appreciated your ministry ‘s funding of last year’s conference and since it is an annual programme, we expected you to have factor it into your ministry’s 2018 budget projections.
“The programme is very important since it is aimed at addressing our highly vulnerable cyberspace”, he said.
The Committee Chairman urged the Ministry to take up the conference as a priority.
Responding, the Minister assured the committee of doing the needful but also begged them to fast track work on amendment bill to the Cyber Council Act towards empowering the ministry in the monitoring and management of cyber space activities in the country .
Shittu told the committee that despite the failure of the country to raise $22.5million as 15% counter part funding for installation of two satellites last year at the rate of $585m and $550m respectively in collaboration with China Exim Bank, the country would have them this year.
He added that China would fund the satellites100% through its EXIM bank in an arrangement that enabled them to recoup their funds within a certain period of time.
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