The ICT sector played a significant role in helping Nigeria exit recession due to the challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.
This was revealed by the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy Dr Isa Pantami on Friday, 23rd April, 2021 during the commissioning of Digital Economy Projects for a Digital Nigeria (Batch 9).
Pantami said that he is confident that the Digital Economy sector will continue to support the development of the economy across all sectors.
“All our projects are carefully thought-out and executed efficiently, with a view to ensuring the sustainable growth of Nigeria’s digital economy, across the entire country. They play a major role in the development of Nigeria’s Digital Economy for a Digital Nigeria, in line with the mandate of Mr President to our Ministry.
“All the projects also align with the focus areas of the Federal Government, namely economic development, security and eradicating corruption. Furthermore, it is also worth noting that these projects are part of the policies of the Ministry that the parastatals are to implement, Pantami said.
The 7 projects commissioned include: Community ICT Centre, Dutse, Jigawa State [North West]; IT Incubation Park, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU) Bauchi [North East]; Digital Economy Centre, Garki Secondary School, Abuja, [North Central]; Digital Economy Centre, Imo State Polytechnic, Umuagwo [South East]; Digital Economy Centre, Ojodu Grammar School, Ojodu, Lagos State [South West]; Emergency Communications Centre, Enugu, Enugu State [South East]; and Emergency Communications Centre, Abeokuta, Ogun State [South West].
Pantami said that all the projects are carefully thought-out and executed efficiently, with a view to ensuring the sustainable growth of Nigeria’s digital economy, across the entire country.
“They play a major role in the development of Nigeria’s Digital Economy for a Digital Nigeria, in line with the mandate of Mr President to our Ministry.
“All the projects also align with the focus areas of the Federal Government, namely economic development, security and eradicating corruption. Furthermore, it is also worth noting that these projects are part of the policies of the Ministry that the parastatals are to implement, Pantami said.
The Digital Economy Centre (DEC) was deployed by NITDA. It is a solar powered IT Centre equipped with computers, Internet access and tools aimed at enhancing skills development, bridging the digital divide and promoting innovative digital solutions that will address challenges facing the country. It supports economic growth by ensuring digital inclusion for the underserved/unserved communities and supports capacity building efforts.
The Centre would among other things, serve as: a capacity Building Centre to enable the promotion of knowledge-based economic growth; an avenue for creating jobs and providing access to information, knowledge and government enabled digital services for rural communities; an avenue for stimulating economic growth by creating new products, increasing productivity and promoting new commercial and administrative methods; a platform to enhance the abilities of communities to access information, manage local level information and disseminate this information to external communities; an environment to nurture Innovation and develop training & professional programs to promote self-employment and entrepreneurship; and a platform to provide & promote professional IT skill to the community, equipping them with industry oriented quality education and training.
While the Emergency Communication Centre (ECC) Project was setup to: Promote and enhance public safety through the use of the 112 number, designated as the Universal Safety and Emergency Assistance Number for telephone services generally; and Encourage and facilitate the prompt deployment of a seamless, ubiquitous and reliable end-to-end infrastructure for emergency communications needs.
The ECC project is being deployed by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) across the country and it will offer the following benefits: Universal, toll-free emergency telephone access for members of the public in times of distress/emergency; and a one-stop shop for receiving distress calls from the public and dispatching same to appropriate Response Agencies (Police, FRSC, Fire Service, Ambulance Service, etc).
The Minister encouraged all the host communities of these projects to ensure that they take full advantage of the facilities for the benefit of the community while commending the CEOs of all the parastatals who have deployed the projects commissioned for their commitment to their responsibilities.
