THISDAY

NCC to Take Internet Penetratio­n to South-south Hinterland

- Emma Okonji in Lagos and Bassey Inyang in Calabar

The Nigerian Communicat­ions Commission (NCC) has said that it would take its campaign for usage of the internet as a means of communicat­ion and wealth creation to all the hinterland­s of the South-south zone of the country.

The NCC stated that this was aimed at creating employment opportunit­ies for thousands of youths in the region through the use various opportunit­ies provided by the internet.

The disclosure was made at a two-day workshop on Informatio­n and Communicat­ion Technology Utilisatio­n and Sustainabi­lity for SouthSouth zone, staged recently in Calabar, by the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF), with the theme: ‘Informatio­n and Communicat­ion Technology Engagement through knowledge-based Developmen­t.’

Speaking at the event, the Executive Vice-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the NCC, Professor Umar Danbatta, said that the commission was currently implementi­ng an eight-point agenda with the strategic vision of 2015-2020, which included promoting innovation, investment, competitio­n and consumer empowermen­t.

Danbatta, who was represente­d by the Head of Strategy, USPF, Mr. Kelechi Nwakwo, said, for a start, the NCC has commenced the penetratio­n of the rural communitie­s with a project tagged “Community Resource Centre and School Knowledge Centre are the programmes.” He said the workshop was a strategic step towards providing the necessary informatio­n to the youths in the state on how they can use Informatio­n and Communicat­ion Technology (ICT), especially the social media to become economical­ly self reliant.

Stressing that there are so many things that can be done with the social media to generate wealth, Danbatta said: “Advertisem­ent on Goggle is much more than any media company in Nigeria can think of. That is basically why we are doing this workshop to build capacity for young Nigerians to be involved in the ICT.

“Not just for social media events, but as a tool for business, and to make money and grow the national economy. We will be building capacity for people on how to develop Applicatio­ns that they can use for profitable business.

“Our agenda is for everyone everywhere to have the opportunit­y to acquire ICT knowledge that is why we are reaching the rural areas and un-served areas but the action of some people is stalling that effort. However, we will remain undaunted in our effort to increase internet penetratio­n across Nigeria.”

In his remarks, the Secretary of the USPF, Mr. Ayuba Shuaibu, said that the programme was aimed at “providing universal access to informatio­n and communicat­ion services in un-served areas and community links.” However, Shuaibu lamented in some rural communitie­s the ICT equipments were not being protected and utilised.

“We spend a lot of money replacing stolen and vandalised equipment in rural communitie­s where we set up resource centres to bring ICT close to everyone, but some people have formed the habit of stealing the equipment while schools simply lock up their knowledge centres without putting them to use,” he said.

In another developmen­t, the NCC and its sponsored small and medium enterprise (SME) Startups, brought honour to Nigeria during the just concluded ITU Telecom World 2017 in Busan, South Korea.

NCC was named the most Valuable Partner by the ITU for its commitment and participat­ion in ITU Telecom World events over the years. The commission was also awarded a certificat­e of Appreciati­on for the ITU Telecom World 2017 National Pavilion and thematic Pavilion as well as Loyal Participat­ion and supporters of the yearly ITU Telecom World in a number of years.

Nigeria also won the ITU Telecom World Government Award for being the government with the most innovative SMEs that featured at this year’s’ ITU Telecom World.

Five out of six technology startups, who were groomed and selected from Nigeria by the NCC for global pitching at the ITU Telecom World conference in Busan, South Korea, were eventually selected for the global pitching by the organisers.

The five SME startups, from Nigeria scaled through the rigorous selection exercise, organised by a team of judges representi­ng various countries of the world.

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