President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan will be honoured with the award of “Grand Commander of ICT Promoters in Nigeria” during the ICT Media Centenary conference and awards slated for Tuesday, October 7 at the International Conference Centre, Abuja.
At the event being hosted by the ICT Media Initiative, three eminent Nigerians; Otunba Mike Adenuga, chairman, Globacom; Hakeem Belo-Osagie, chairman of Eisalat Nigeria,; Jim Ovia, chairman of Visafone Nigeria Limited have been shortlisted to vie for “Grand Investor in ICT 4 Development” in the special recognition awards category.
Aaron Ukodie, chairman of ICT Media Initiatives, in a statement issued yesterday said that other deserving stakeholders in the ICT sector would be honoured at the one day event, which includes a conference and award night during which Dr. Hammadoun Toure, secretary general of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), has accepted to give the keynote address.
According to Mr. Ukodie, in the other award categories, investors, companies, innovators, pioneer efforts, products and services, regulatory milestones that have stood out within the last century of Nigeria as a nation would be considered for awards.
The event had already drawn on substantial goodwill and supports from the private and public sectors including: Dr. (Mrs.) Omobola Johnson, minister of Communications Technology; Dr. Eugene Juwah, executive vice chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC); Mr. Peter Jack, director general of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA); and Mrs. Abimbola Alele, acting managing director, Nigerian Satellite Communications Limited.
Others are: Mr. Emeka Mba, director general, National Broadcasting Commission (NBC); Barrister Chris ‘E. Onyemenan, director general, National Identity Management Commission (NIMC)
Also Dr Ernest Ndukwe, immediate past EVC of NCC and chairman of OpenMedia; Mr. Austin Okere, managing director of CWG, and Mr. Leo Stan Ekeh, chairman of Zinox Computers have all declared support for the event.
Mr. Ukodie said that the main theme of the conference is: ICT in the Nigerian Centenary: Matching towards a Connected Nigeria.
“We have also slated other sub-themes for discussion. One of the sub-themes is: Broadband, for a connected Nigeria and prosperity. The conference is intended to sustain the current growth and momentum of discourses and actions that would culminate in the cost-effective deployment of broadband. This fittingly complements the efforts of the Federal Government as exemplified by the inauguration of the National Broadband Initiative,” he said.
He said that ICT Media Initiative is a synergy across three entrepreneurial media groups namely the ICT Publishers Alliance (ICTPA) – comprising leading ICT publications; Business and TechnologyNews Publishers Foundation (BTPF) – made up of business and technology publishers, editors and very senior news managers across Nigeria; and Nigeria ICT Broadcast Network (NIBN).