Ministers brainstorm on advancement of ICT in Africa
African ministers
of information and communication technologies, and other experts, are
meeting in Abuja to assess how much they have implemented their own
policies on issues related to the sector.
Speaking at the
opening of the Third ICT Minister’s Conference on Tuesday in Abuja, the
minister of state for communications, Labaran Maku, said this was a
follow-up to the 2008 meeting in Cairo, Egypt.
At that meeting,
the ministers adopted several recommendations to guide the sector, such
as improving national postal policies. Mr Maku said they could take
stock of the extent their various governments have gone towards the
implementation of the recommendations.
Mr Maku stated that
the five-day conference will also avail the ministers of “the
opportunity to deliberate, analyse and proffer solutions for developing
a basic framework that will advance the development of ICT in Africa
and improve its standing with the global ICT industry.”
Progress
He said the
Nigerian government has fared well in implementing the Cairo
recommendations. He pointed out the implementation of programmes aimed
at providing Internet and telephone facilities for rural communities,
as well as the School Net Project, through which primary and
post-primary schools are being provided with Internet facilities and
computers.
Brahima Sanou,
regional representative for Africa at the International
Telecommunication Union (ITU), said the African telecommunications
sector has grown geometrically since the last meeting of African ICT
heads.
“There are 80
million subscribers in Nigeria today and Africa is the fastest growing
industry in the ICTs,” he said. “In addition, Africa has proven to the
world that we can be part of the digital economy.” He said the
conference will afford the ministers the opportunity to talk about the
African agenda.
“This important for me because at ITU, we are trying to accompany
African countries to be at the driver’s seat and own their development
so that the result of the development is not owned by somebody else.”
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