The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, has said that the Federal Government has supported the local smartphone production industry in Nigeria by providing an enabling environment for private sector players.
He said this at a profession forum convened by the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abuja, according to NAN.
Pantami commented on the importation of SIM cards, stating that the current administration had put mechanisms in place that would cut the importation of materials needed in the telecommunications sector by 60-70 percent in the next two to three years.
He said, “We came up with a policy that in the next two to three years, a minimum of 60 to 70 per cent of what we need in the telecommunications sector is going to be produced locally and we have started it.
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“When this administration came on board, even SIM cards were imported into Nigeria.
“But, as it is today, the Federal Government has provided an enabling environment for the private sector to produce SIM cards, not only for our consumption, but for the entire African continent.
“We have the capacity to produce a minimum of 200 million SIM cards annually and have provided an enabling environment for the private sector to start the production of smartphones.
“Today in Nigeria, we are producing smartphones.”
