Tech: Innovation boost as Nigeria set to construct ICT parks

Six Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Parks will be constructed in the 6 geopolitical zones to boost the nation’s broadband capacity and to promote the socio-economic transformation of the country, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has said.

The agency’s spokesperson, Henry Nkemmadu, in a statement on Sunday, said the commission has embarked on the construction of the buildings.

“The parks are designed to have fast internet service (broadband) and constant power supply,” he said.

Nkemmadu said the parks would provide innovation labs and digital fabrication laboratories (FabLabs) for use by ICT innovators and entrepreneurs.

“They will use the labs to turn their ideas into products and prototypes, provide a Commercial Hub for ICT capacity building and digital skills, create employment and entrepreneurial activities and facilitate smart city deployment across the Digital Industrial complex,” he explained.

An ICT park comprises an area or location with concentration of ICT facilities. It creates a dynamic environment in which local talent is incubated, cultivated, and shared.

ICT parks are best tested and trusted institutional mechanisms to address the needs of technology-intensive, knowledge-based Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

“An initiative of the current leadership of NCC, the ICT Parks Project involves the construction and equipping of fully-functional Tier-4 Digital Industrial Complex (DIC) in each of the 6 geo-political zones across the country,” the official said.

“The project concept is designed to support Federal Government’s ICT-related policies by facilitating the availability and accessibility of ICT services across the country and promoting their usage across all sectors,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Executive Vice Chairman, NCC, Umar Danbatta, said the commission embarked on the project with a view to building capacity for the Nigerian youths.

“The whole idea of putting these 2 things (i.e. skill acquisition and innovation) at the forefront of this very important initiative is to produce youths that can be self-reliant, generate employment for themselves and for other Nigerians,” he said.

The commission is starting the project with 4 ICT parks in Abeokuta for the South-west; Enugu for the South-east; Maiduguri for the North-east and Kano for the North-west, “all of which are currently at different levels of implementation while the ones for North-Ccntral and South-south are in the offing.”

Danbatta, said the project commissioning would take place at different times, possibly starting from end of this year.

He assured that, based on its national spread structure, “no part of the country will be left out as beneficiaries of the initiative.”

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