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By Juliet Umeh

Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria, IXPN, has engaged stakeholders from various sectors in Kano on the benefits and impact of connecting to the exchange point.

Speaking at a two-day workshop attended by various Internet Service Providers in Kano state, experts explained that connecting to the exchange point has a huge role to play in the country’s information and communication technology, ICT ecosystem and, ultimately, the digital economy agenda.

IXPN is a non-profit and membership based organisation which provides a platform where networks interconnect directly within Nigeria, to ensure that local internet traffic remains local, rather than having to transcend boundaries of different countries before reaching recipients within the same area.

Executive Secretary from Kano State Library, Mr. Rudman Muhammed, said the role of the Internet and easy access to information by students in today’s world cannot be overemphasised.

He noted that IXPN is at the forefront of advocating for the localization of educational research contents and other content in-country.

Muhammed said: “With such content easily accessible through the increasingly robust IXPN infrastructure across Nigeria. This will significantly reduce capital flight, improve latency, reduce the risk of such traffic being hijacked, and improve resiliency.

“We believe that the fast-depleting IPV4 resources at AfriNIC underline the need for Higher Educational Institutions to acquire their IP resources and peer with the eXchange point, thereby providing access to their students to contents currently available through the IXPN,” he said.

He also assured that the Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria is ready to provide the necessary support to any educational institution that wishes to acquire IP resources and connect to the eXchange point.

The workshop in Kano is coming weeks after IXPN engaged 21 participants from nine network operators in Lagos in what it described as value-added service to its members through capacity building.