By Tobias Lengnan Dapam
President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday in Ndjamena called on all African countries to become more active participants in the digital revolution going on in the world.
A statement issued by the Special Adviser to the President on Media & Publicity, Reuben Abati said Jonathan made the call while speaking at an international conference on information and communications technology in the Chadian capital.
President Jonathan observed that because of the strong correlation between the efficient deployment of ICTs and socio-economic development, Nigeria and other African countries stand to gain a lot from the effective adoption of the new technologies.
“Africa and Africans must be active participants in the digital revolution that is taking place all around the world. We must in fact be at the forefront of that revolution, creating information societies and knowledge based economies.
“African governments must facilitate and support the deployment of the necessary ICT infrastructure required to connect our citizens to each other and the rest of the world. We need to educate our citizens on ICTs and make them digitally literate so they can actively participate in this revolution. We need to encourage the development of our local ICT industries, creating companies to drive added domestic economic value, create jobs and support sustainable growth in GDP,” the President told the gathering which was hosted by President Idriss Deby of Chad.
The President said that to ensure Nigeria gets the full benefits of new information and communication technologies which include improving national commerce, the development of an ICT workforce, the creation of high skilled, high paying jobs, improved international competitiveness and the establishment of stronger, more competitive small and medium businesses, the Federal Government was judiciously implementing a National ICT Policy, National Broadband Strategy and Roadmap and the Guidelines for Nigerian Content in the ICT industry.
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