The five years National Broadband STRATEGY AND ROADMAP, how journey so far?

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The Hounourable, Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs Omobola Johnson

From Benjamin a ameh, Lagos

Minister calls for more support for this industry by way of technology training and skills development, incubation, and business mentorship to take their ideas from concept to commercial as fast as possible, access to capital and markets for the output.

The federal government of Nigeria (FGN)’s National Broadband Plan for five (2013 -2018) have be mandated to reflects the value proposition of the services relevant to their life needs.

We are live in a global village now, where ICT has a direct impact on a Nation’s ability to improve the economic wellbeing of her people and compete globally.

Broadband is an essential infrastructure of the 21stCentury which enables access to business and job opportunities, improves healthcare, education and government services, and facilitates social interactions.

The broadband is a key factor to the present Information Age as Electricity was to the Industrial Age, in the recent pass. Furthermore, it has a significant transformative effect on how people live and work.

The Hounourable, Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs Omobola Johnson, in her keynote address at the BusinessDay in 2012 on Broadband summit held in Lagos stated that broad band access is critical to every country ‘s socioeconomic, political development and growth as it has also been identified by the International Telecommunications’ Unit

Johnson further pointed out that how the broad infrastructure would be build and how the opportunities inherent in that infrastructure would be harnessed

The minister further said that the draft National ICT policy which was approved in pricinple by the Federal Executive Council contained the key policy thrusts document and they are integrative reformation, enhancement of infrastructure growth as well as stimulation of the culture of ICT adoption and usage in both public and private sector.

Johnson urged for more broadband utilization adding that out of this utilization that delivered on the oft quoted 1.38 percent increase in GDP.

The Internet as part of broadband component is the world’s largest repository of information and knowledge and High Speed Access is critical to fully harnessing the benefits of the Internet that can create a new form of knowledge base economy.

The relevance and attractiveness of the broadband service are enhanced when the market provides sufficient choice and diversity of services, applications, and content that appeal to consumers.

The Content becomes even more appealing when it is locally relevant to how users can employing broadband-based services and applications ranging from online financial services like banking, shopping, social networking, instant messaging, media content and file sharing, to online/mobile gaming, video-on-demand, videoconferencing, video chatting, IPTV and VoIP.

There are opinions of many experts that broadband applications are helping businesses and government establishments to improve productivity. For instance broadband applications may allow access to new geographic markets, shorten product development cycles, and throw up more efficient resource allocation processes for business and government establishments.

The Internet is a critical enabler of human empowerment, social development, and economic growth, and it also enhances quality of life generally. End users therefore form a critical part of the broadband ecosystem because they are the main beneficiaries.

Application and service relevance are paramount to attract users or consumers who are willing to pay for what they use on the broadband platform. There is also evidence that broadband applications are helping businesses and government establishments to improve productivity.

The economic benefits of investing in broadband are considerable and far reaching.

It is widely accepted that an increase in broadband penetration has positive impact on GDP growth. For instance, A 2009 World Bank study suggests that a 10% increase in broadband penetration yields an additional 1.38% increase in GDP growth for low to middle income countries

In the first half of 2013, the FMCT ran a test pilot for a ‘micro-work program that gave 3500 otherwise unemployed youths access to freelance crowd sourcing via the internet. In just two months the pilot reported over $121,163 USD of revenue earned by just over 2000 active registrants serving 42 clients globally.

“Vision20:2020; Top Twenty World Economy by 2020  states that By 2020, Nigeria will have a large, strong, diversified, sustainable and competitive economy that effectively harnesses the talents and energies of its people and responsibly exploits its natural endowments to guarantee a high standard of living and quality of life to its citizens.”

This Vision reflects the intent of the F GN to become one of the top twenty economies in the world by the year 2020, with a principal growth target of no less than $900 billion in GDP and a per capita income of no less than $4000 per annum Pervasive broadband access is a critical requirement for Nigeria to achieve this vision.

The National ICT Policy document describes acknowledge-based and globally competitive effective broadband strategy is pivotal to any of these vision statements.

The five years broadband plan exercise is a resounding success showing access to broadband that contributes to job creation and economic growth by improving productivity and accelerating innovation

 

 


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