The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Pantami has commended the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for helping in the advancement of digital economy in Nigeria.
The Minister gave the commendation while commissioning Emergency Communication Centres (NCC) established by NCC in both Ogun and Enugu states, which are part of the seven projects inaugurated by the Minister during the virtual commissioning of the batch nine of digital economy projects for a Digital Nigeria, today at the Communications & Digital Economy Complex, Mbora, Abuja.
“It is the goal of the Federal Government to leverage ICT to address developmental issues in our country and that is what we have been doing in the Ministry by facilitating development of Nigeria’s digital economy targets through a number of policy and regulatory initiatives,” Pantami said.
According to the Minister, the ECCs are deliberate projects embarked upon by the Commission pursuant to its mandates, enshrined in the Nigerian Communications Act (NCA) 2003, to dedicate a national emergency number and to ensure the protection of lives and property of Nigerians.
To date, 19 states of the Federation including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, have benefited from functional ECC projects, the implementation of which has received greater momentum under the Prof. Umar Danbatta, as the Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive of the Commission.
By simply dialing a dedicated toll-free Emergency Number, 112, citizens can easily receive timely succor in times of emergency from appropriate emergency response agencies (ERAs) such as the Police, Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Fire Service, Ambulance Service, State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), and so on.
Other digital economy projects commissioned by the Minister include the Community ICT Centre, Dutse, Jigawa State; Information Technology Hub at Abubakar Tafawa Belewa University, Bauchi; and Digital Economy Centres (DEC) in Imo State Polytechnic; Garki Secondary School, Abuja and Ojodu Grammar School, Ojodu, Lagos State. These five projects were executed by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA).
