AIT Infotech Network Counts Achievements at 10

 AIT Infotech Network celebrates 10 years of x-raying people, organizations and issues that have shaped the ICT sector in both within and outside Nigeria.
The programme is arguably the continent’s leading ICT programme reaching over 70 million audiences in Nigeria, UK, US, parts of Africa, Europe, and the rest of the world where AIT signals are beamed via satellite.  
AIT Infotech Network has become the only ICT programme on TV to win the prestigious Uneca/AISI Award twice for local content, and other nineteen international and local awards. 
As a frontrunner, the programme has inspired similar programmes on television such as Technology Today anchored by Don Pedro and ICT Watch anchored by Tayo Adewusi, among others. 
Bayero Agabi, producer and coordinator of the programme, said that part of the celebration will be Cyber Nigeria Forum 2009, which will afford participants the platform to discuss issues pertaining to the Internet, security, online transactions, legislation, and Internet based products and services, content cost and infrastructure.
The event’s overriding theme is “Internet as a Catalyst” for configuring a new Nigeria, which would be rounded off with a pan African Award tagged: “African Information Society Merit Award.”
Agabi said the Award was meant to reward those individuals, initiatives and companies who have kept the industry together in the past ten years.  “The theme of the event is to underscore the need to focus on the Internet as it has become the defining platform for nations, organisations and individuals’ successes globally today.”
Agabi acknowledged the role of the Internet in the last America elections, the just concluded Iran elections, as well as new Internet based services like IPTV, IP radio, soft switches, online based media, businesses, transactions and even campaigns. “We believe it’s time we begin to take seriously the Internet as a catalyst to move us forward in this century. Part of the highlights of the forum will be the unveiling of Thinktec Nigeria, an initiative meant to raise a national consciousness towards technology development, use and deployment in all sectors of the economy,” he disclosed.
He suggested that Nigeria should be grateful to Daar Communications for instituting the programme and funding it this far, and called on the industry to help such knowledge based initiatives as InfoTech, through sponsorship, as in the case of its entertainment and sports counterparts.
AIT InfoTech Network commenced as Computer Link in 1998 and metamorphosed into  InfoTech Network in 1999 in response to the need to preach ICT for Development (ICT4D) which began at that time.