By Laide Akinboade
Federal Government has called on Nigeria and Africa as a whole to draw up new strategies that will ensure the development of Information, Communication and Technology in the region.

Minister of State for Information and Communications,  Mr. Labaran Maku, used the opportunity of the 3rd ordinary session of the African Union’s Communication and Information Technologies Ministerial Conference in Abuja, to drum support for the need to make ICT revolution a reality in the continent.

According to him, “It is our hope that this conference will avail us the opportunity to deliberate, analysis and profer solutions for development of ICT in Africa, and improve its standing in leveraging with Global ICT industry. We have to draw up new strategies that will further advance ICT development in the continent.”

He reiterated the commitment of the Federal Government in ensuring the development of ICT in the country and he cited some measures that have been taken by the government, which include, Rural Telephony programme, school net project, and funding some ICT development programmes.

For him “Nigeria has embarked on an ambitious programme to address the issue of inadequate power supply through massive investment in power and energy. In many of oyur ICt project we deployed solar energy to provide power to such projects.”

He urged the government in other countries in the continent to embrace alternative power supply if the continent was keen on realizing ICT revolution in Africa.

Earlier in his welcome address, the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Information and Communications, Mallam Mohammed Bashar, wished that the deliberation at the conference would accelerate the development of ICT in Africa.

He added that “we have made modest advancement in our ICT efforts therefore, we need to further mobilize our resources and those of our international partners to address the acute shortage of broadband capacity in Africa and to tackle legal, policy and regulatory obstacles for cross-border provision of ICT infrastructure and services.”