THISDAY

Ministers to Chart Africa’s Future ICT at Nigerian Summit

- Emma Okonji

As new technologi­es and innovation­s emerge and become ubiquitous and demanding, African communicat­ions ministers led by Nigeria’s Communicat­ions Minister, Adebayo Shittu, and his Ghanaian counter, Mrs. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, will discuss and design the future roadmap for Africa’s ICT at a summit billed to hold in Nigeria from September 6 to 7.

African ministers, with their Indian counterpar­t, Shri Manoj Sinha, are determined to fashion the future of Africa’s Informatio­n and Communicat­ions Technology (ICT) industry.

The occasion is the IndoAfrica ICT Expo & Summit 2017, a two-day forum designed to strengthen the Indo-African relations and essentiall­y to move the African ICT industry to greater heights with the theme ‘Digital Dreams of Developing Nations’.

The Director-General, Telecom Equipment and Services Export Promotion Council (TEPC), Shri Rajesk Kumar Bhatnagar, the body set up by the Indian Government to organise the event, said the programme presents African ICT experts, the unique opportunit­y to present and review their nations’ ICT plans over short, medium and long term periods.

“Digital Transforma­tion is the need of the time for all the developing world and nations in Africa and India can share their experience­s on embracing digital technologi­es, digital competenci­es, digital literacy for re-inventing lives and changes covering all aspects of human society in the respective nations,” Shri Bhatnagar noted.

Other topics for the conference also range from training, regulation in telecom sector, convergenc­e of IT and Telecom, e-Health, e-Governance, e-education, e-finance, infrastruc­ture, new technologi­es, standardis­ation, spectrum auction and optimisati­on, licensing, evolving needs of consumers, service providers, among others.

India’s giant strides in ICTs are globally recognised as a shiny example for all developing economies to emulate, hence, this event being organised by the TEPC in conjunctio­n with the National Associatio­n of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) of India, offers the African continent a huge opportunit­y to learn and adopt new strategies for technology growths.

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