Nassarawa Connects 29 LGAs to Consolidate e-Governance

Alhaji Aliyu Akwe Doma, executive governor of Nassarawa State, has made good his promise to connect all the 13 local government areas and 16 development areas to the Internet in order to properly execute his e-governance project as entrenched in his 13- point agenda.
The project was executed by Messrs Chapman Computers Nigeria Limited in conjunction with Gilat Satcom of Israel.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the training programme on how to operate the communication equipment, at the Ibrahim Abacha Youth Centre in Lafia, Governor Doma said that the project was conceived some years ago with the objective to ease communication problems at the grassroots level of governance, pointing out that technological advancement across the globe has reduced it to a global village, hence the project.
Governor Doma, who was represented at the occasion by Mr. John Mamma, permanent secretary, Ministry for Local Government and Community Development, said the network communication project was rural-based aimed at transforming the local government areas, urging local government chairmen and directors of personnel management to ensure security of the equipments and also make them operational at all times for maximum utility.
The Governor was particularly impressed by the presence of seasoned resource persons who were on hand to share their knowledge and wealth of experience especially Mr. Roy Hess, president and CEO of Gilat Satcom, who gave an overview of the satellite communication systems and their operations.
Monday Okpebholo, CEO of Chapman Computers Nigeria Limited, described the governor as having a “digital mind” as his administration has pushed strongly to raise the level of information technology across the entire state with access to computers and internet services that will support inter-local government connectivity such as voice and data.
He noted that the development will no doubt check the current rural-urban drift, observing that Jamb, Waec, Neco and others are currently registered for online and called on all Nasarawa state citizens to take advantage of the project as it saves time and improves productivity.
Okpebholo urged government to grant tax incentives to ICT operators in the country, which would allow them compete favourably with counterparts across the world, adding that Chapman Computer’s vision would not have come through without the support and full participation of Nasarawa state government.