Federal Government’s plan to convert the nation’s post offices into Information and Communications Technology (ICT) parks is a welcome development and a well thought initiative.
It lends itself to the belief that ICT is an important enabler of growth through wealth creation, increased productivity and creation of opportunities.
In this arrangement, Galaxy Backbone PLC, a federal government establishment will be providing all Nipost offices across the country with VSAT-based connectivity
It is a tonic in efforts by Nipost to reposition itself as one-stop shop for ICT materials and a profit making venture that is self-sustainable.
There are about 1,500 post offices in the country reaching out even to the remotest of the villages and offering jobs to thousands of Nigerians.
As recent investigations have shown, most of these post offices scattered in all the nooks and crannies of the federation are idling away leaving some of the buildings dilapidated.
The conversion of post offices into ICT centres will therefore serve as elixir to resuscitate the infrastructure of some of these post offices sited in rural areas and help push development to the grassroots.
The effort will also compliment Federal Government’s desire in connecting the rural and the underserved populace to the information super highway.
The teeming youths of this country will also benefit immensely from such ICT centres as they will offer them the leverage to exploit the limitless opportunities available on the Internet and other communication tools.
As lofty as the effort to transform post offices to ICT centres is, there is a lot of challenges to be addressed. Some of these post offices are situated in the rural areas where there is no electricity. Even in the cities where there is connection, there is hardly electricity to power the ICT equipment. The Federal Government must fashion out alternative means of generating power to be used by those ICT centres otherwise, it makes no sense.
Government should also ensure that those centres are self-sustaining by instituting adequate accounting processes that will deter embezzlement.
