FG Declares Support for DAP, SABI

The Federal Government has said it supports the Digital Awareness Project, DAP, and other initiatives being roll out by the Nigerian Communications Commission, (NCC) to ensure that Internet and broadband services are taken to semi urban and remote areas of the country to ensure that all citizens benefit from the potentials and resources so the global digital economy.
Alhaji Ikra Bilbis  minister of state for Information and Communications,  said this when he commissioned two DAP Centres located at Barewa College, Zaria,  and Yusuf Aboki Secondary School, Shika, also in Zaria, and the Advanced Digital Access for Tertiary Institutions, ADAPTI, located Ahmadu Bello University
Bilbis said these projects were initiated by the Nigerian Communications Commission, with the support of my Ministry, in response to the digital information gap existing in the country.
“The project is a demonstration of the Federal Government’s commitment to promote access to information and communications tools which is essential not only for education but for all aspects of human existence”, he said.
He said the Federal Government, through his Ministry, will continue to give the necessary support to the Commission to succeed in this initiative and similar ones such as the State Accelerated Broadband Initiative, SABI, and the Wire Nigeria Project, WIN, which will all contribute to the faster roll out of broadband and Internet connections across Nigeria. He said efforts are being put in lace by the NCC to extend these services to all parts of Nigeria, covering all geopolitical areas.
Senator Sylvester Anyanwu, chairman of the Senate Committee on Communications, who led members of the Committee during the commissioning ceremonies, said the National Assembly will provide all the legislative support needed for the implementation of these projects, including approving the appropriate budgets as it has proven to be a very beneficial development project in Nigeria.
He said the National Assembly will ensure that this project is sited in all the geographical zones and that where the students and neighbouring communities utilize this very well, the Senate will encourage the NCC to put more DAP and ADAPTI infrastructure for the schools.
Ernest Ndukwe, chief executive officer of the Nigerian Commission, said the first phase of the Program was launched in October 2004 with the selection of twelve educational institutions spread across all the geopolitical zones of Nigeria.
“Today about 221 schools and colleges have benefited from this initiative while this is being complimented by the School Access Programme in which the Universal Service Provision Fund Secretariat has targeted for provision of similar facilities and infrastructure.
Ndukwe said Nigeria has recorded an impressive phone subscription with more than 64 Million Active Lines by end of December 2008, raising the teledensity to over 40% and that considering our history in this sector, this is no doubt a remarkable growth.
“However, with the current population of Nigeria at about 140 million, we cannot rest on our oars.   Every Nigerian citizen is entitled to the basic communication tools that are necessary to live in an information age. 
“We therefore still have a long road to cover.  We also live in a world where the average citizen is in demand for more than basic voice telephony. Today demand for broadband and Internet resources for e-health, e-education, e-commerce, e-business, e-office, -e-everything-, has continued to rise, and Nigeria must rise up to this challenge.
“It is in response to this that the Nigerian Communications Commission initiated the Digital Awareness Program (DAP) and the Digital Access Programme for Tertiary Institutions, ADAPTI, to provide academic institutions and their neighbouring communities across the country with ICT facilities”, he said.