The Permanent Secretary Federal Ministry of Communications, Mr Musa Istifanus, has pointed out that open data enhances transparency in governance and this can help mobilise citizens to participate in governance positively.
He stated this during Nigeria Open Data Conference for the North-west Zone which has the theme, ‘Harnessing Public Data Assets for Economic Recovery and Growth’ organized by the Ministry of Communications at the Tahir Guest Palace, Kano state.
He said the ministry has developed a draft open data policy and action plan that will enhance the releases of certain data assets across different categories of economic sectors in the country.
“Open data is an integral part of the global data revolution. It is a programme through which countries manage their data assets as a national resource to create an innovative economy for jobs, service delivery and to promote economic growth. This, they do by making available, through online platform non-sensitive data to citizens and other stakeholders in reusable, machine readable formats for planning and economic decisions making.”
He said the ministry in its efforts towards promoting open data economy started holding stakeholders’ sensitidation workshops and have established the open data working group saddled with the responsibility of primary governance of this new initiative.
“Our efforts so far have yielded some results as many data companies and civil society groups are keying into the open data ecosystem,” he said.
Earlier, director (ICT), Ahmed Musa Jubril, who represented the Kano state commissioner for Science, Technology and Innovation said the initiative would open up non-sensitive public data assets to promote a new ICT- powered data industry.
In his presentation, managing consultant, PacePact Consulting Limited, Mr John Eweama stated that data must be in open format to enable citizens access and utilized for innovation by entrepreneurs for maximum benefit to the citizens and the economy.
