DERC: World bank tasks Nigeria to increase broadband penetration

…36 states in Nigeria to have fibre optic cable by April – Pantami

By Ogaga Ariemu

The World Bank, on Tuesday, tasked Nigeria to increase its broadband penetration to provide internet access to people in rural areas and remote places.

World Bank Country Director, Shubham Chaudhurimade the call while speaking on the sidelines of the maiden Digital Economy Regional Conference, DERC held in Abuja.

The World Bank DG said there was great potential in Nigeria’s digital sector but emphasised the need for more corporations from states.

Chaudhuri said, “The Ministry also did talk about broadband penetration. It is essential to ensure that no one is left behind impoverished families and those in remote rural areas. The key is ensuring that every person, no matter where they are in Nigeria, has that same access to the digital economy. Nigeria’s young population has tremendous potential, but you must ensure equal access.

“One is for states to make it easy for private firms to lay the fibres and invest. The second is digital skills, which ensure that young children, especially girls, have access to digital skills to contribute to areas of growth in the future,” he added.

On his part, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof Isa Pantami, while speaking at an event titled: Positioning West African Digital Economy for the Future, announced that every state would have Federal Government optic fibre cable installed by April.

“As of today, we are providing Federal Government optic fibre cable to every state. We have them in less than 34 states today, and by April this year, they will be available in every state.

Pantami further disclosed that the country’s data price had been reduced by 70 per cent in the last two years despite rising production costs.

He said, “In our Nigeria National Broadband plan, we have a target to reduce the price of 1 gigabyte from 1200 to 390 Naira, but as of today, two years before the deadline, the current price of 1 gigabyte is 350. The reduction of more than 70 per cent. It is a huge achievement because the price of every other commodity increases. If you complain about diesel, the ICT sector consumes more diesel than any other sector. We are affected by the cost of diesel, and we are being affected by forex, yet the price is coming down; why? Because we always work harder to ensure that we reduce the cost of production.”

The Minister said the Digital Conference was necessitated by the need for the various West African countries to converge and brainstorm on how to boost the continent’s economy using Information Communication Technology (ICT).

“If you look at our economic growth, it is lower than our population growth. There are situations where population growth is higher than economic growth. Then by implication, if care is not taken, poverty will continue to increase within that population and in this context within the African continent. Because of this, we feel it is necessary to be proactive to organise the West African continent so that we can come together and see how we can complement each other to make sure that our sub-region is specific and our continent, in general, is very successful,” he stated.