Official Presidential Seal {nigeriamasterweb.com}

Former Nigerian President Yar’Adua may be remembered for his controversial election in 2007, his unification of political parties, his general ill-health during the presidency, or his relatively inert role as leader. However, Umaru Yar’Adua contributed to the advancement of ICT, but the majority of his actions involving making promises and challenging experts or his government to produce results. He was more of a reactionary leader in terms of ICT, and especially could have taken more action to address Nigeria’s cyber crime woes.

Despite the former president’s lack of hands-on commitment, Nigerian ICT still marched along. Here are a few notable ICT events associated with Mr. Yar’Adua:

• launched the first ever Pan-African Communication Satellite NigComsat-1
• holistic commitment to physical infrastructural development as outlined in the seven-point agenda
• focused on using ICT to grow GDP
• recognized need for better ICT training
• Commonwealth ICT Summit in Abuja, 2008: mentions need for strong policy framework