The Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Danbatta has declared the adoption and utilisation of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is pivotal to the Socio-economic development of Nigeria.
The NCC Boss, who delievered the 10th and 11th combined Convocation Lecture of the Fountain University at Osogbo, Osun State, noted that ICT is synonymous with empowerment, as it transforms processes efficiently acting as an enabler of effectiveness in operations in every sector of the economy, including commerce, agriculture, health, security and governance.
“In all continents of the world, people, organisations and countries have continued to witness leaps and bounds in economic, social and political activities through instrumentality of ICT, which, according to Danbatta, has meshed computing, information and communication technology to catalyse development in ways and manners humans never envisaged decades ago,” he said.
In the paper titled: “Empowering the Nigerian Youth though Information and Communication Technology”, Danbatta recalled the impact of ICT revolution in all parts of human endeavour across countries and continents, insisting that technology will continue to penetrate and foster qualitative and quantifiable changes in all aspects of life.
According to Danbatta, Uber, the world’s largest taxi company, owns no vehicle; Airbnb, the world’s largest accommodation provider, owns no real estate; Facebook, world’s most popular public-facing digitally-mediated social networking platform, creates little or no content; Alibaba, a leading global retailer, has little or no inventory, yet they have become signposts of prosperity riding wholly on ICT resources.
Earlier in his welcome address, the Vice Chancellor of the University, Prof. Olalekan Sanni, described Prof. Danbatta as an accomplished academician and administrator, whose wealth of experience was considered worthy of tapping into by the university community towards proffering solutions to the issue of youth empowerment and to suggest ways for enhancing Nigeria’s socio-economic life through effective leveraging of ICT.
