The Minister of Communications, Engr Adebayo Shittu, has revealed that the ministry will establish five new companies from the Nigeria Postal Service (NIPOST).

The companies are: NIPOST banking and insurance company; NIPOST property and development company; NIPOST transport and logistics services company; NIPOST E-government services company; and NIPOST E-commerce services company.

Shittu, who spoke at the official launch of the Nigeria information and communications technology (ICT) roadmap in Lagos yesterday, said the five new companies, which will take effect by the end of the year and will be recruiting hundreds of Nigerians in each company.

The roadmap launch and sensitization workshop which was organised to reawaken the interest of the private sector has been approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) and the implementation has commenced.

He stated that the ICT sector Roadmap 2017 to 2020, will focus on the ICT industry and infrastructure development, governance, policy, legal and regulatory environment, capacity-building and cross-cutting issues such as information security and innovation.

“The intention in developing the roadmap is to create broad, yet flexible pathways to ensure that ICT reaches all the nooks and crannies of Nigeria as well as to provide every Nigerian with access to ICT and improved quality of service delivery by government.

“It will also promote public-private partnerships (PPP) to attract investments in high-quality infrastructural facilities and services.”

Shittu added that, in the roadmap, the ministry plans to leverage business process outsourcing and other ICT sector opportunities to create two million jobs, establish a technological park and ICT exhibition centre, create ICT innovation hubs across the nation and reposition NIPOST to enable it provide cost-effective 21st-c