Nigeria’s development depends on ICT adoption, utilization – Danbatta

The Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta has stated that Nigeria’s socio-economic development is dependent on the adoption and utilisation of Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

Prof. Danbatta who made this assertion recently, while delivering the 10th and 11th combined Convocation Lecture of the Fountain University at Osogbo, Osun state, noted that ICT is an enabler of effectiveness in operations in every sector of the economy, including commerce, agriculture, health, security and governance.

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.

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 him, has meshed computing, ICT to catalyse development in ways and manners humans never envisaged decades ago.

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.

Similarly, just as Alibaba, without inventory, had over 828 million annual active customers across its China retail markets, as at June 2021. Needless to mention that the troves of contents synonymous with Facebook are actually generated by its 2.89 billion monthly active users.

The NCC CEO stated that the foregoing contextual demonstrations of the possibilities of ICT explains federal government’s policy decisions to strengthen ICT adoption in building a robust digital economy in Nigeria, eloquently expressed in the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS), 2020-2030; the Nigerian National Broadband Plan (NNBP), 2020-2025 and other series of policies, guidelines and regulations.