FG, others urged to make broadband penetration accessible, affordable to all Nigerians
To tackle the menace of cybercrime in the country, the Federal Government, regulators, and industry stakeholders have been urged to examine the state of broadband in Nigeria and map out creative ways to ensure broadband penetration is accessible, available and affordable in all corners of the country.
Making this charge was the coordinator of the Nigeria ICT Impact CEO Forum (NIICF) and Africa Digital Awards (ADA), Mr Tayo Adewusi, who disclosed that in order to deepen the conversation around broadband penetration; the organisation would host a conference on the subject this month.
Themed the State of Broadband in Nigeria and how best to Connect the Unconnected, the conference, according to him, would attract top C-level executives and industry regulators including the Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Danbatta and the Director-General National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Dr Isa Pantami who are both billed to deliver the keynote speeches.
“The forum offers a veritable platform for the regulators and players to come together and fashion out solutions to the issue of cyber-attack as it relates to broadband penetration in Nigeria. We need to find a lasting solution so that we can all live in an environment that is devoid of cyber-attack,” he said.
Scheduled to hold on July 25, 2019, at the Oriental Hotel, the event would be chaired by the Governor of Ondo State, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu.
In a statement, Adewusi said the following dignitaries will present papers at the forum: Managing Director, Galaxy Backbone, Yusuf Kazaure, CEO of MTN, Ferdi Moolman, President of Medallion Communications and Vice President of ATCON, Engr Ikechukwu Nnamani and Managing Director, Inlaks, Femi Adeoti.
Others are the CTO of Digital Encode, Dr Seyi Akindehinde, Managing Director of Bitflux Communications, Engr Lekan Balogun and Country Manager, ESET, Femi Ake while the special guests include the Chairman of Zinox Technologies, Chief Leo Stan Ekeh (OFR), Governor of Edo State, H.E, Godwin Obaseki, Governor of Plateau State, H.E, RT, HON. Simon Lalong respectively.
The forum serves as an avenue to shed light on the latest developments and trends in Nigeria’s ICT landscape and corporate environment, “especially as it concerns broadband, cyber security, identity management, e-government and digital economy”.
Adewusi explained that ADA is designed to honour distinguished individuals and corporate organisations for having distinguished themselves in the contribution to the development of the industry.
While ADA would hold simultaneously with the conference, the event would parade over 75 key nominees in diverse areas. The criteria for the nominations include the value of the service or technology in solving recognised technology problems, meeting network requirements, optimising service and performance and enhancing customer service.
Other measures being adopted are the overall quality of innovation and contribution to ICT advancement, originality and vision, potential industry growth and service, market success and acceptance, and contribution to end – user’s quality of experience and service efficiency.
