Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, governor of Kano State, has commended the executive vice-chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, for the ongoing initiative in building Information and Communication Technology (ICT) parks across the six-geo political zones of the country.
Sahelian Times quoted Ganduje as speaking when he visited the site of the ongoing construction of an ICT Park by NCC for the North-Western zone located in Kano State, recently.
Acknowledging the efforts and commitment of the Danbatta-led NCC in ensuring increased digital access for fast-tracking digital innovation across Nigeria and the North-West in particular, the governor explained that the initiative will trigger socio-economic transformation of the area in no distant future.
The ICT Park in Kano is expected to be completed and inaugurated at the end of the year.
OYOINSIGHT.COM understands that NCC is building ICT parks in the six geo-political zones across the country.
That of the Southwest geo-political zone will be built within the premises of Nigeria’s first university, University of Ibadan.
According to Ganduje, “Realising that a major project that resonates with the global vision for the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR) is being vigorously driven by NCC leadership, shows the kind of socio-economic transformation we should expect through ICT across Nigeria in the next few years.
“For the ICT Park being built here in Kano to serve the North-West zone, the government and citizens of Kano State are grateful to Prof. Danbatta and his team for bringing development to the state and the zone at large.”
Expressing appreciation for the foresight of the NCC for accommodating an expansion plan at the project site, Ganduje commended the he construction work being undertaken by the NCC on the ICT Park.
Danbatta, who spoke on the ICT Parks project recently, had explained that it was conceived and designed to support the federal government’s ICT-related policies and programmes by facilitating the availability and accessibility of ICT services across the country, promote their usage across all sectors and ultimately address youth unemployment in the country.
Designed to propel socio-economic transformation in the country, the EVC said the ICT Parks will help build capacity for the teeming population of Nigerian youths in the area of skill acquisition and innovation by complementing existing initiatives geared towards accelerating socio-economic transformation of Nigeria.
“The whole idea of putting these two things (i.e. skill acquisition and innovation) at the forefront of this very important initiative is to produce youths that can be self-reliant, generate employment for themselves and for other Nigerians,” he said.
Danbatta said based on its national structural spread, no part of the country will be left out as beneficiaries of the initiative. “The NCC ICT Parks Project is another move by the current leadership of the Commission to boost youth digital skills acquisition, promote innovations, provide jobs for the teeming Nigerian youth and ultimately support the overall digital economy agenda of the Federal Government,” he said.
He said the parks will support software development, incubation and hardware development. “We also hope to see innovative technologies that will leverage the broadband network, which the Commission is deepening in order to socially and economically transform our communities and societies.”
Danbatta urged the potential and would-be beneficiaries of the project, especially the youths, to be ready to leverage the initiative as it promises to empower them socially and economically.
“I would like to send out a very important message to our youths, especially those who are currently occupied with various innovative applications, those who have acquired the skills but are looking for where to put the skills fruitful engagements, by incubating them, commercialising them, or giving publicity to these excellent initiatives, to be ready to leverage the facilities,” he stated.
