The Executive Vice Chairman and chief executive officer of
the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Eugene Juwah has promised to
partner with the Nigeria Information Technology Reporters Association (NITRA)
in the propagation of broadband for development and penetration, reports ITRealms.
Juwah made this promise while presenting a keynote at the
inauguration of NITRA in Lagos Sheraton at the weekend.
ITRealms gathered
that stressing on the importance of business development and broadband
penetration, Dr. Juwah who was represented by an Assistant Director, Technical
Services at NCC, Engr. Bako Wakil, expressed confidence that such a partnership
will broaden the desire of NCC to improve services, especially on quality of
service, pave the way for affordable broadband penetration across the country.
“… We hope that we can partner with NITRA to drive our
broadband aspiration to provide quality, affordable pervasive broadband
penetration in Nigeria to be able to achieve another revolution,” he declared.
He congratulated NITRA for successfully pulling its inauguration,
which Juwah described as culmination of efforts in forming a better platform
for effective coverage of the industry.
“It is also heart-warming that your vision is to drive ICT
Development through your mission to ensure ethical, accurate, and robust
reportage, and deepen collaborations with the industry players, regulators, and
other key stakeholders for sustainable development of the ICT industry,” he
said.
Pointing out that from the objective of NITRA, it already
has a shared aspiration with NCC, hence the Commission is delighted to join NITRA
at this special occasion.
On “Broadband Penetration and Its Importance for Business Development”
Juwah noted that the catalytic role and contribution of broadband services to
an economy is well documented.
The economic impact of broadband is positive as shown from
studies of the World Bank which showed that every 10 per cent points increase
in broadband penetration leads to a 1.38 per cent growth in Gross Domestic
Product (GDP).
“The impact of broadband penetration on national development
is immense. Some of the positive economic impact of broadband can be seen in
entertainment, agriculture, commerce, education and energy management,” Juwah told
ITRealms.
Citing broadband in entertainment, agriculture and education
for instance, Juwah said that Nigeria’s Nollywood industry has been ranked
third in size only behind the US’ Hollywood and India’s Bollywood, attributing
that to the largest consumer demands for bandwidth which are coming from music,
movies, videos, TV shows and Radio content downloads.
“The demand to download video content, such as a movie or TV
show, within a short timeframe requires significant bandwidth. With the
availability of broadband access, another means for entertainment businesses to
distribute their content and provide access to users becomes possible. This
greatly expands the reach for entertainment businesses and broadcasters to
reach their target audiences anywhere in the world,” he said.
Specifically on agriculture, Juwah said that broadband
access provide agriculture businesses the means to get relevant and timely
information on weather updates, since the quality of crops and other tasks
depend in large part on weather.
“The proper timing of planting activities in line with
favourable weather conditions often promotes high yield,” he said.
Educational institutions, Juwah pointed out are making use
of increased penetration of broadband access to push learning beyond the confines
of physical classrooms, just as a student at home could participate in regular
classes using interactive multimedia technology.
He stressed that unlike traditional school systems which
require face-to-face encounters between teachers and students, broadband makes
it possible to deliver distance learning and the sharing of educational
resources.
Welcoming guest to the event chaired by the
Executive Vice Chairman, Teledom International Group, Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem, the President,
NITRA, Mr. Emma Okonji said they are the finest crop of
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) journalists, who took a step
forward towards the formal inauguration of the NITRA.
According
to Okonji, NITRA was established in November 2013, as the umbrella body of all
ICT journalists in Nigeria, cutting across the print, broadcast and online
media, with a vision to drive ICT development, ensure accurate and
robust reportage and deepen collaborations with industry stakeholders and
the regulators for a sustainable development in the ICT industry.
“The decision
to inaugurate NITRA was borne out of the need to create an industry-wide
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