Be more active in ICT Jonathan urges African heads

DigitalSENSEBusiness News:

President Goodluck Jonathan has stated his administration’s resolve to ensure Nigerians get the full benefits of new information and communication technologies by strictly implementing the National Broadband Strategy and roadmap, National ICT policy, and the Guidelines for Nigerian Content in the ICT industry, DigitalSENSE Business  News reports.

This is even as he called on all African countries to become more active in the digital revolution going on in the world, insisting that due to strong correlation between the efficient deployment of ICTs and socio-economic development, Nigeria and other African countries stand to gain a lot from the effective adoption of the new technologies.

President Jonathan who stated these at an international conference on information and communications technology in Ndjamena, Chad, maintained that improving national commerce, the development of an ICT workforce, the creation of high skilled, high paying jobs, improved international competitiveness and the establishment of stronger, more competitive small and medium businesses are some of the benefits Nigeria and other African countries will gain if they key into the ICT revolution.

“Africa and Africans must be active participants in the digital revolution that is taking place all around the world. We must in fact be at the forefront of that revolution, creating information societies and knowledge based economies.

We need to encourage the development of our local ICT industries, creating companies to drive added domestic economic value, create jobs and support sustainable growth in GDP.

The results of our efforts in this regard include an ICT sector that is 19 per cent of our Services sector which in itself is 54 per cent of total GDP. In addition to this, the ICT sector has an enabling effect on other sectors of the economy contributing a further 2.56 per cent of added value,” he said.

Stressing that information and communication technologies and the internet have become catalysts that can drive socio-economic development, President Jonathan, noted that his administration, in addition to encouraging and facilitating the development of ICTs within Nigeria, was also helping to increase the spread of high capacity broadband networks to support the harmonious and integrated development of regional economies in Africa.

Chukwudi Obi

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