1st Edo ICT summit holds in May

Plans have reached an advanced stage for the hosting of the maiden first Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) summit in Edo State. The event is slated to hold in May this year.

The event being organized by the Invest magazine a quarterly journal that projects Nigeria as a profitable destination for trade, tourism and investment in collaboration with Centurion Information Technologies (CIT).

Head, Media & Marketing for the 1st Edo ICT Summit 2009, Mr. Tunde Omiwole, told ITRealms Online at the weekend that the technology event has been scheduled to hold in Benin-City, Edo State, from May 18-20, 2009.

“The summit aims to help to create a world-class information and communications technology industry in Edo State to support the state’s economic transformation in the years ahead,” he said.

Omiwole who noted that the theme of the summit would be on “Leveraging ICT as a Competitive Economic Advantage,” emphasized that the objectives of the summit include to mobilize the Edo State business class throughout the country to invest massively in ICT in the state and in its 18 local governments areas; to tap generously into the technological resources of the Edo State diaspora populations in the developed world; and to mobilize Edo State tertiary educational institutions to become change agents.

Omiwole in a press statement also made available to ITRealms Online quoted the publisher, Invest, Mr. Frederick Apeji, as saying that the forthcoming 1st Edo ICT Summit 2009, will provide a platform to analyze the current realities of the economy of Edo State.

“And to discourage over-dependence on the oil-generated federal allocations, as its major available resource for economic growth,” he said, stressing that the ultimate goal is to create a ‘silicon valley’ in Benin-City, Edo State, during the next decade.

“The summit will therefore focus on what to do and how to do it, starting from 2009,” Apeji declared.

Also speaking, the Managing Director, CIT, Mr. Ugochukwu Mpamugo, said that his firm is pleased to partner in this project, which he described as a visionary technology project for Edo State.

“We believe that Nigerian states should identify certain niches around which to grow their economies,” he asserted.

Mpamugo further said that with the well-established tradition of promoting tertiary education on a massive scale, Edo State is a good candidate to spearhead an ICT revolution in the country.

“We, therefore, look forward to contributing our expertise and growing experience in public sector ICT consulting to make this summit a success,” he said.

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