Minister of Communication
Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson, has at the 150th anniversary of
the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Abuja, said that Nigeria now
ranks 52 per cent in Africa’s total internet access and also records over 148 million connected mobile lines with a teledensity of
about 97 per cent, reports ITRealms.
The
Commtech Minister, who was represented by the Director, e-governance, Mr. Tope
Folashedemi, ITRealms gathered admitted
that the country was down in United Nations (UN) e-government development
ranking, adding that today, the country has moved up in the ranking with a
growth rate of 11 per cent in 2013 to 52 per cent in 2014, which is 29 per cent
share of Africa’s total internet access.
This
according to her is a welcome development, as Information and Communication
Technology (ICT) is now being deployed in both the public and private sectors
for effective service delivery.
Buttressing
further on the impact of the ministry over the years, she revealed that the country
had a combined fixed and mobile telephone subscription of over 400,000 lines
since independence in 1960, but in just 14 years after the licensing of the
mobile operators, it recorded over 148 million connected lines with a
teledensity of about 97 per cent.
“In
the past four years, the country has witnessed changes or innovations in the
way we conduct or transact business in many sectors of our economy. For
example, with the deployment of the electronic (e-wallet) system, Nigerian
farmers are now able to make payments for subsidized farm inputs through their
mobile phones,” she stated.
She
also explained that government was planning to get all its cities connected to
the internet through its broadband initiative, adding that already, many state
governments are keying into its national broadband plan, which is to make
broadband ubiquitous across the country in no distant future.
Mrs.
Johnson stressed that this will enable operators deploy
broadband services across the country, adding that there is ongoing collaboration
between government and the private sector for the expansion of fiber optic
infrastructure across the country.
ITRealms further
gathered that the ministry, according to Johnson, had implemented the
Government Service Portal (GSP) and the Government Contact Centre (GCC) to
enable citizens and other stakeholders have access to government services that
are provided by the various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) through
a single window technology.
Daniel
Nsolibe/GEE
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