By EMEKA AGINAM

The recently commissioning of first Nigerian Research and Education Network (NgREN), by the Federal Ministry of Communication Technology in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and the Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC) will provide fast Internet to tertiary institutions to facilitate learning, teaching, research and connectivity to the global academic world.

President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan who stated this at the commissioning of the phase 1 of the NgREN in Abuja recently disclosed that the NgREN is a World Bank-assisted project that will create an effective infrastructural backbone to interconnect all research and education institutions in the country and link them with other Research and Education Networks worldwide.

Phase 1 is a collaboration between the Federal Ministry of Education, The World Bank and the Federal Ministry of Communication Technology.

According to him, the NgREN is aimed at ensuring a seamless knowledge flow between Nigerian Educational institutions and their counterparts around the world. President Jonathan who was represented by Minister of State for Education-Barrister Eyesom Wike also emphasized that the project is expected to drive down the exorbitant costs of bandwidth while at the same time increasing the capacity of the network members to deliver world class teaching and research services.

President Jonathan stressed that the FG was committed to fully revamping the educational sector to make Nigeria a reference point globally.

He said that in line with FG’s transformational agenda, the educational system is being transformed through effective partnerships for maximum impact. President Jonathan stressed the importance of ICT for enabling transformational development and disclosed that the ICT sector in Nigeria now contributes almost 9% to Nigeria’s GDP.