President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua has restated government’s continuous improvement on the nation’s infrastructural base, saying it is one of the cardinal policies of the current administration.
He said that it was in recognition of this that the presidential task force on the restructuring of government institutions and organizations in Telecoms, Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sectors was set up to pave way for Nigeria to move with times as ICT has become a pivotal of efficiency and development.
Yar’Adua who spoke in Abuja through Alhaji Ibrahim Dansuki Nakande, minister of state for information and communications, stated this at the opening ceremony of Africa international technology exhibition (AFRITEX 2008).
The aim of the event put together through the efforts of the national information technology development agency (NITDA) in collaboration with the local organizing committee AFRITEX, is to bring to limelight technologies of African origin alongside existing ones from the Western world.
Speaking further, the president said, "it is indisputable fact that Nigerian market is large and has the fastest Telecommunications growth rate in Africa. Therefore, my administration will continue to encourage well-meaning Nigerians and foreign investors, and would continuously create the enabling environment for them in invest in Telecoms and ICT sectors", he assured.
He said African continent is not at the dawn of the information age and knowledge economy, all to be driven by information and communications technologies, the spread of ICT is changing the way economic and social developments occur worldwide.
ICT related tools, he observed, can make institutions and markets more productive through enhanced acquisition of skills and learning which, according to him, lead to improved governance at all levels. By this development, the poor will begin to have direct access to service culminating in their effective participation in issues that affect them.
He pointed out that the digital divide between Africa and the rest of the world has become serious in the fact that the gap was widening as the rest of the world was being swept by an information revolution that was leaving Africa in its wake.
"This, therefore, makes it more urgent for nations and governments in Africa to come together to explore various avenues of bringing this great divide, using various strategic programmes, initiatives and the encouragement of local content development".
The AFRITEX initiative which has the theme: harnessing the opportunities of Africa’s ICT environment, is one of Africa’s biggest information and communication technology exhibition that has brought various governments of the continent, service providers, users and peoples of Africa together.