As the Federal Government launches the National Policy on Virtual Engagements in the Federal Public Institutions, Emergency Communication Centre and Digital Economy Centre, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy has called on all the host communities of these interventions provided by the NITDA and NCC to ensure that they take full advantage of the facilities for the benefit of their communities.
The call was made by Dr. Isa Pantami on Monday, during his speech presentation at the commissioning of Batch 10 of Digital Economy Projects for a Digital Nigeria in Abuja.
Pantami said that there has been a major transition from physical meetings to online meeting and much as these changes are welcome, there is no provision for such meetings in the Public Service Rules.
“This is why we developed the National Policy for Virtual Engagements in the Federal Public Institutions, in collaboration with the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation.
“This Policy was approved at the Federal Executive Council on the 14th of October 2020 and the implementation commenced immediately after its approval at the Council,” the statement said.
The 5 initiatives commissioned on Monday are as: National Policy on Virtual Engagements in the Federal Public Institutions; Emergency Communication Centre, Akure, Ondo State; Digital Economy Centre, Federal University Gashua, Yobe State; Digital Economy Centre, Delta State University Abraka, Delta State and Digital Economy Centre, Government Secondary School, Rigasa (Main) Kaduna State.
The Minister further said that these initiatives can be mapped to relevant pillars of the National Digital Economy Policy for a Digital Nigeria.
The Digital Economy Centre was deployed by the National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA.
It is a solar powered IT Centre equipped with computers, internet access and tools aimed at enhancing skills development, bridging the digital divide and promoting innovative digital solutions that will address challenges facing the country.
It supports economic growth by ensuring digital inclusion for the underserved / unserved communities and supports capacity building efforts.
The Centre would among other things, serve as:
- a capacity Building Centre to enable the promotion of knowledge-based economic growth;
- an avenue for creating jobs and providing access to information, knowledge and government enabled digital services for rural communities;
iii. an avenue for stimulating economic growth by creating new products, increasing productivity and promoting new commercial and administrative methods;
- a platform to enhance the abilities of communities to access information, manage local level information and disseminate this information to external communities;
- an environment to nurture Innovation and develop training & professional programs to promote self-employment and entrepreneurship; and
- a platform to provide & promote professional IT skill to the community, equipping them with industry-oriented quality education and training.
Meanwhile, the Emergency Communications Centre Project was setup to:
- Promote and enhance public safety through the use of the 112 number, designated as the Universal Safety and Emergency Assistance Number for telephone services generally; and
- Encourage and facilitate the prompt deployment of a seamless, ubiquitous and reliable end-to-end infrastructure for emergency communications needs.
The ECC project is being deployed by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) across the country and it will offer the following benefits:
- Universal, toll-free emergency telephone access for members of the public in times of distress/emergency; and
- A one-stop shop for receiving distress calls from the public and dispatching same to appropriate Response Agencies (Police, FRSC, Fire Service, Ambulance Service, etc).
Pantami further said the Ministry’s goal is to have at least one Emergency Communications Centre in each state of the Federation, including the FCT as it will ensure that there is an effective emergency response to cater to the needs of the citizens.
Guests at the commissioning include the Minister of State for Works & Housing, Engr Abubakar Aliyu. Senator Ogbo, represented the Chairman, Senate Committee on Communications, Senator Oluremi Tinubu at the event.
Other Guests include Chair Senate Committee on ICT, Sen. Yakubu Oseni; Minister of States, Dr. Uchechukwu Ogah, Mines & Steel.
Head of parastatals and agencies present at the commissioning include the Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Inuwa Kashifu Abdullahi; the DG/CEO, National Identity Management Commission,Aliyu Aziz Abubakar; The MD/CEO of Galaxy Backbone, Muhammad Abubakar; MD & CEO of NIGCOMSAT, Mrs. Abimbola Alale and the Executive Vice Chairman/CEO of Nigerian Communications Commission, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta among others.