ENGR. ERNEST NDUKWE
ABUJA, September 21, (THEWILL) – President Goodluck Jonathan has inaugurated a 14-man Presidential Committee on Broadband Penetration Project, which will work for three months, and is to be jointly chaired by Engr. Ernest Ndukwe, the immediate past executive vice chairman of National Communications Commission (NCC), and Mr. Jim Ovia, the chairman of Zenith Bank.
The president also mandated the Ministry of Education to include Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in national education curricular from primary school to the highest level so that young Nigerians can have early exposure to the global information highway.
Jonathan handed down the directives at the inauguration ceremony of the high-profile committee, which held at the State House, Abuja, explaining that the move is a historical landmark in his administration’s attempt to build 21st century economy out of the country.
“We must therefore start exposing our children to ICTs to encourage in them familiarity with new technologies and the desire to develop software programmes and applications, “he said.
“It is important to start thinking of how to build a digital economy, particularly in this era of the knowledge economy. The critical factor here is that we are in the middle of a digital revolution that has seen ICT transform the global economy.
“ICTs have changed the way we live, work and learn. In some countries around the world, including Nigeria, ICTs have even transformed the way citizens participate in governance. To achieve this lofty goal, it becomes imperative that a proper and feasible plan is articulated. Hence, government has constituted this committee to develop a comprehensive broadband roadmap for the country.”
Articulation of acceptable definitions and perspectives of broadband and related issues that are current and dynamic for the country, evaluation and analysis of the current position of broadband infrastructure and service delivery in the country, definition of broadband service in the country and articulation of an agenda for bridging the gap between the privileged and the underprivileged in the country top the committee’s terms of reference.
Other terms include the expansion and detailing of additional strategic and tactical approaches for reinventing the country as broadband-rich digital haven capable of supporting electronic and mobile architecture for commerce and trade, consideration and articulation of the role of different levels of government, in ensuring the timely achievement of the roadmap, consideration and articulation of other related and reasonably connected relevant plans and agenda that are incidental to broadband development in the country, and production of a comprehensive National Broadband Road Map for Nigeria.
Speaking after the committee’s inauguration, Minister of Information Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson, reinforced the president’s promises, saying that government would create the enabling environment to attract investments in ICT in the country.
