Gerald Ilukwe, managing director, Galaxy Backbone, has stressed the need for the Federal and State Governments to seek alternative ways of leapfrogging the country in to the 21st century knowledge economy. According to him, “Nigeria can strategically position to compete in the knowledge economy by acquiring the right infrastructure and implementing human capacity development strategies relevant in the new millennium”. He therefore proposed a partnership framework through which the 36 State Governments can extend the reach of NICEP services to cover all State Capitals and Local Governments in the country.
He stated this in a presentation on the developmental opportunities presented by the National Information Communication and Education Programme (NICEP), he made at a meeting of National Economic Council.
NICEP is an ICT policy intervention programme approved by the Federal Government in 2007 to provide accelerated connectivity for broadband internet, data, voice and video communications to rural and underserved communities including educational institutions in the country. The network could be leveraged to bring many sustainable developmental initiatives to all Nigerians. Specifically, the network would assist government to facilitate the digital inclusion of underserved communities, assist in the area of human capacity development and deliver beneficial e-services to citizens. Already, more than 1000 locations across the country have been connected to this network.
Ilukwe explained that in addition to providing internet access, the network is capable of supporting ICT based solutions targeted at universal access, health, education, poverty alleviation, wealth creation, as well as those focused on enhancing public sector efficiency. With so many public services going online e.g. JAMB, NECO registration and recruitment into some government agencies, the need to provide access to people in rural areas can never be overemphasized.
He urged State Governments to take advantage of the fact that the Federal Government had already funded the purchase of NICEP equipment to reap the benefits as they only incur recurrent bandwidth and support charges. “This proposition is superior to any other that will include hidden or visible equipment costs”.
The benefits of digital inclusion that can be leveraged through the NICEP infrastructure at the Federal, State and Local Government levels include providing digital access to citizens in all locations; improve quality of education and healthcare; support growth of internally generated revenue; enhance government to citizen interaction; cost control and management as well as employment generation and poverty alleviation.
