Thursday, 28th March 2024
To guardian.ng
Search
Breaking News:

Minister canvasses local content as SecureID bags GSMA certification

By Adeyemi Adepetun
21 April 2021   |   3:32 am
The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Pantami has called for increased patronage of Made-in-Nigeria products by Nigerians.

Isa Ibrahim Pantami

The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Pantami has called for increased patronage of Made-in-Nigeria products by Nigerians.

Pantami said this has become necessary as Nigeria moves to ethrone a digital economy in the country. The Minister said this during a tour of the facility of SecureID in Lagos at the weekend. SecureID Limited is a certified smartcard manufacturing plant in sub-Saharan Africa and are capable of manufacturing all kinds of cards including highly complex polycarbonate cards.

Pantami, who was represented by the Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Danbatta, also witnessed the SecureID certification by the Global System for Mobile telecommunications Association (GSMA).

The minister urged Nigerians to patronise the company’s products which meet the same international standards like their counterparts abroad.

According to him, “We must patronise our own products produced to the same international standards by such companies. I think it is a testimony of the high standard that they have set in the way and manner they produce their solutions.

Besides, Pantami said with the GSMA certification, there is opportunity to create more jobs.

“The certification from GSMA, coupled with the level of local content exhibited by Secure ID in the local production of Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) card, in line with government policy on local content development, would enhance job creation in Nigeria,” he stated.

On her part, the Chief Executive Officer of SecureID, KofoAkinkugbe, explained that lots investments, especially in the areas of resources and manpower went into the company’s ability to bag the GSMA certification.

“We are very happy to have the Minister Isa Patani represented by the Executive vice chairman of the NCC, Prof. Danbata to have come to launch first of all the GSMA certification that we have just received and also to open and launch our digital solution.

“They went way around the factory. I think they saw that locally and in Nigeria the production of smart cards is possible at the highest quality”.

“They were very impressed with what they saw and we took them round all the quality protocols and we also have them understand what the GSMA certification means, after doing that on the same cards.

“We then took them to the subsidiary of the digital company called SIB Digital to look at the several digital solutions that we have in our portfolio.

“We are very pleased and ours is a local company that will continue to preach quality, we will continue to show that in Nigeria, certain things are possible, and we are able to provide jobs for people.

“We are able to have the technologies initiated in Nigeria and we can only speak for all local manufacturers who have taken that investment to invest in the manufacturing company here to also be encouraged.”

On the SIB Digital, Akinkugbe said the facility only focuses on digital solution to contribute siginificantly to Nigeria’s digital transformation plan.

0 Comments