Vice President Namadi Sambo, on Monday said that Nigeria has a broadband plan that would pave the way for all Nigerians to have access to the Internet in the next five years.
Sambo made this known at the opening of the 53rd council meeting and 11th annual forum of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO), titled “Innovation through broadband’’ in Abuja.
The vice president was represented by the Minister of Communications Technology, Omobola Johnson.
He said that the potential impact of broadband on development was so significant that every country was pursuing strategy to expand the reach and utilisation of broadband service, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.
Sambo said that thanks to broadband technology, millions of people that previously did not have access to telephone and internet now have access, adding that the job on broadband in Nigeria was not yet done.
“To me as a public servant, the most significant contribution broadband has made is the way it has facilitated in informing and empowering the public to which we all owe broadband our `highest duty’.
“ Nigeria has made impressive gain in the field of telecommunications and we are paving the way to the connectivity of all Nigerians to broadband even in the next five years, ‘’Sambo said.
Minister of Communications Technology, Omobola Johnson, said that almost 40 per cent of the world’s populations is now online through broadband service.
She said that one area the forum was going to focus on was how to access the different stages of broadband development and how to discover the best practice strategy for moving forward in broadband connectivity.
According to her, an increasing number of countries including Nigeria are recently developing national broadband plans to enhance connectivity.
“Global Internet penetration has continued to increase and almost 40 per cent of world population is now online. However the numbers of people connected to Internet are fewer in the developing countries than developed ones.
“Internet penetration is faster among the youths and it is therefore the reason why this forum will focus on the use of ICT by youths.
“The number of facebook users is becoming an informal indicator of the social media. Nigeria recently became the location of the largest users of facebook in sub-saharan Africa,’’ Johnson said.
Johnson said that the forum would also focus on women, empowerment and ICT, adding that women make up about 50 per cent of the population and workforce in the country.
“We cannot work to achieve our social, economic and development goal while isolating our potential; the success of our policies and initiatives in the sector depend on our ability to accurately identify the skills necessary to drive the process.,’’ she added.
Source: BusinessDAY