The Nigerian government will this Friday commission a Digital Nigeria Centre (DNC) project in Osun State, as part of enmeshing the digital culture in the country.
The Digital Nigeria Centre (DNC) project, which will be commissioned by the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami and his counterpart in the Ministry of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, gives concrete expression to Item No. 2 of the eight pillars of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) 2020-2030.
The Digital Nigeria Centre is an abode of knowledge acquisition targeting students and youths for skills acquisition in order to increase Information and Communication Technology (ICT) literacy among school teachers and students.
The centre provides a platform for accessing online educational resources; equip students with ICT skills; facilitate ICT adoption in teaching and learning; and increase pass rate in mathematics, English language and other science subjects.
Located at the Ijesa Muslim Grammar School in Ilesa, the centre has four components including ICT Tool component (made up of 40 desktop computers with embedded operating systems, server, printer, remote-controlled projector, high resolution scanner, and e-learning software). Another component is the Power structure, consisting of an inverter that comes with its charger, solar panels, batteries and automatic changeover.
There is also a Connectivity component, made up of routers, switches, firewall for network protection, modem, fibre/microwave radio or VSAT and bandwidth for internet connectivity. Finally, there is a non-ICT component constitutive of the furniture, cabinet, cooling systems, and allied appliances.
The DNC is a project of the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF), an arm of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), established under the Nigerian Communications Act (NCA) 2003 with the overarching objective to carry out the Commission’s statutory mandate of expanding the frontiers of universal access and universal service by ensuring service provision to unserved and under-served areas of the Nigerian economy.