Nigeria’s Communication Technology Minister, Dr Omobola Johnson, has been elected Chairperson of the United Nations’ Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD) for one year. She was elected at the end of the 17th Session of the Commission which was held in May, 2014 in Geneva, Switzerland.
The new Chairperson who is also the Supervising Minister of Science and Technology in Nigeria will engage in discussions that will shape the role of science and technology in development .These discussions will include deliberations on the manner at which the internet could be governed globally and a proper regulation of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in member countries.
The CSTD is a subsidiary body of the United Nations’ Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), and plays an advisory role in the UN’s General Assembly and ECOSOC on a range of relevant issues. These issues pertain to the contributions of science and technology to development, particularly in developing countries.
Since 2006, CSTD has also advised ECOSOC on the implementation of the outcomes of the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS). The CSTD is composed of 43 Members States that are elected by ECOSOC for a term of four years which meets annually for a period of one week. Nigeria is one of the eleven African States that are members of the Commission, and its tenure in the Commission ends in 2016.
