Nigeria has lost Turner Timinipre Isoun, a former minister of Science and Technology whose policy vision helped lay the foundation for the country’s mobile phone revolution and digital economy.
Isoun died earlier this week at the age of 87, according to family statements reported by several Nigerian media outlets. His death has renewed attention on a largely underappreciated chapter of Nigeria’s economic history: the policy reforms and institutional groundwork that made mobile communication accessible to millions of Nigerians.
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While the rapid spread of GSM services in the early 2000s is often associated with telecom operators and market liberalisation, Isoun’s role as a senior member of the Obasanjo administration placed him at the centre of broader efforts to build Nigeria’s information and communications technology ecosystem.
As minister from 2000 to 2007, Isoun championed policies that promoted information
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