The Republic
Back to Communications, Innovation & Digital Economy

Buhari I + IIMinister of Communications, Innovation & Digital Economy· August 2019 — May 2023

Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami

First Minister of the renamed Communications & Digital Economy portfolio. Architected the NIN-SIM linkage policy.

The record

Isa Ali Pantami (b. 20 October 1972, Gombe State) was Director-General of NITDA before his ministerial appointment.

He renamed the portfolio to add the 'Digital Economy' mandate in October 2019, and drove the contested NIN-SIM linkage policy from December 2020 onwards, which has linked over 200 million SIMs to NIN by his exit.

Sources

  • NCC — NIN-SIM Linkage compliance reports, 2021–2023
  • Federal Government Gazette — Ministry rename, October 2019
Methodology

Tier 1 · primary

Courts. Gazettes. National archives.

Tier 2 · corroborating

OCCRP. HRW. BudgIT. TheCable.

Tier 4 · tertiary, flagged

Wikipedia only where primary is pending. Always labelled.