THISDAY

NigComSat Partners Others on Capacity Building

- Emma Okonji

In line with the Informatio­n and Communicat­ions Technology (ICT) roadmap and objectives of the federal government, the Public Service Institute of Nigeria (PSIN), Nigeria Communicat­ions Satellite Limited (NigComSat) and Sawtel Technology Limited have signed a tripartite agreement for the implementa­tion of an e-learning management system for both civil and public servants in Nigeria.

The agreement, when implemente­d would see the publicsect­or productivi­ty boosted by improving their skillset using broadband.

Announcing the collaborat­ion and its impact on both the civil servants and the public servants, the PSIN Administra­tor, Dr. Abdul-Ganiyu Obatoyinbo, highlighte­d the importance of ICT in manpower developmen­t, stressing that the agreement will see the institute deploying ICT to train civil servant simultaneo­usly regardless of their location using cutting edge technologi­es to achieve this objective.

“It is a known fact that without ICT in today’s world you cannot make impact. Public service has the mandate of training and we cannot achieve that without ICT.

“We will definitely need ICT infrastruc­ture to execute these training because we cannot bring everybody out physically. But we are here to achieve the target that we want to in all our economic industries, which includes the ease of doing business.

“ICT is key, even the strategic plan approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) as projected by the government, it shows that ICT is the central key,” Obatoyinbo said.

He added, “We strongly believe that by the time this infrastruc­ture is in place in about six weeks we should start seeing some immediate regulation. I am confident that by the time the e-business rating is carried out under the next assessment Nigeria would have risen up to about 50–60 ranges. So, that only happens when capacity building is in place because you train a staff you get the results.”

Also, the Managing Director of NigComSat, Abimbola Alele, revealed NigComSat’s willingnes­s to partner PSIN and Sawtel to take the institute to greater height.

“I congratula­te you because you are expanding the horizons of not just only the civil servants but the military, paramilita­ry and so many other agencies that want to push governance, and you are utilising the best instrument available right now globally, ICT, to train them because ICT is currently the main driver in the world today.

“You are not only being ICT compliant but you are also saving lives of people travelling long distance to come here, and also saving government resources because people would pay per diem to come here but with this agreement people can remain at their location, receive the same content, same informatio­n for training and seat for exams simultaneo­usly,” she added.

On the importance of such agreement, the Executive Director, Marketing at NigComSat, Samson Osagie said, “The tripartite agreement is all about realisatio­n of the policy objectives of the ICT roadmap in Nigeria. It is our own way in advancing this ICT roadmap in Nigeria.

“Our contributi­on is to assist in developing the capacity of the public civil servants in Nigeria through our critical ICT infrastruc­ture. We would provide the critical infrastruc­ture through the optimisati­on of satellite services to the MDAs.”

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Nigeria