President Muhammadu Buhari has barred government officials from using private emails for official purposes.
Instead, they must use the Nigerian Government Second-Level Domains. The President made this announcement in an effort to promote the digital economy in Nigeria and ensure the sustainability of its gains.
Buhari said this while launching two new policies related to the digital economy sector, the National Policy on Nigerian Government Second-Level Domains and the National Data Policy, during a visit to the State House in Abuja.
The President explained that the digital economy sector has made great contributions to the nation’s economy and the Federal Government has saved over N45.7 billion in IT projects clearance.
“For example, we have succeeded in diversifying our economy to a large extent and this is obvious when we consider the contribution of the ICT sector to our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the second quarter of 2022 which stood at 18.44%, compared to the contribution of the oil sector to the GDP which was 6. 33% in the same period,” he said.
He also commended the Honourable Minister for being committed to the implementation of the digital economy mandate and for taking the necessary steps to ensure the sustainability of the gains by developing relevant policies and strategies.
The President emphasised that the use of private emails for official purposes is not only discouraged, but also in violation of the new policy. He also urged Federal Public Institutions to migrate their websites to the relevant government domains.