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The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) is considering adopting Swedish programme for ICT capacity development.
The telecom regulator this week in Abuja hosted the Swedish Ambassador to ECOWAS, Ghana, Cameroon and Nigeria, His Excellency Carl Michael Grans and discussed how to enhance ICT capacity development and broadband penetration in Nigeria modeled on Swedish Programme for ICT Development in Emerging Regions (SPIDER), a dedicated programme instituted to provide capacity building in emerging markets.
Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of NCC, Professor Umar Garba Danbatta, thanked the Swedish ambassador for honouring the commission’s invitation for the visit based on its assessment of the offer for capacity development and focus of the SPIDER.
Danbatta said that the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority (PTS) had earlier trained some Nigerians and would be glad to further explore collaboration that could help build capabilities of Nigerians on ICT. The NCC boss said this would enhance human resources and capacity in the ICT sector towards deepening broadband penetration.
“We hope that the Embassy will continue to facilitate this kind of intervention to NCC and other agencies of government in Nigeria and Africa, and we also hope to benefit from the wealth of experience especially of Sweden, being a leading broadband market”, said Danbatta.
He added that further capacity building of Nigerians on ICT tools and skills will start with agencies in the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy (FMoCDE) in the context of train-the-trainer arrangement, and the beneficiaries in the agencies will proceed to train other Nigerians.
“5G technology and Internet of Things (IoT) are crucial to transforming the industry and production in a way that can’t really be seen yet, but a digital revolution is really imminent worldwide,” said Ambassador Grans while responding to Professor Danbatta.
He expressed conviction that Nigeria was ready for the digital revolution considering the approval given to conduct 5G tests recently by the NCC.
Professor Danbatta thanked the Swedish government for the capacity building programmes and reiterated that one of the priorities of the Nigeria Government is to facilitate the migration of millions of Nigerians out of poverty traps through ICT capacity development, skill impartation and effectively driving the digital economy processes.
