Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has announced plans by the Federal Government to expand the broadband coverage of the country through the licensing of private broadband providers soon.
Osinbajo said this while launching the Google for Nigeria event at the Landmark Centre, Lagos at the weekend.
He said the measure would improve the digital space and opportunities for innovation and technological advancement of the country.
He said: “Next week, I will launch a climate innovation centre in partnership with the Enterprise Development Centre at the Lagos Business School, here in Lekki Village.
“All of these form part of our ICT road map in which the private sector is an important stakeholder.
“The challenge remains connectivity, extending broadband reach, making data cheaper.
“Our national broadband policy is the first step we are taking.
“And so through the Nigerian Communications Commission we are licensing a number of infrastructure companies who will invest in rolling out broad band infrastructure across Nigeria.
“I believe that we can extend broadband connectivity and reach significantly within a year or two and we will be partnering in whatever way we can with Google, with Nigerian broadband providers like 21 Century Technologies, BCN, to quickly achieve the level of connectivity that is required to march the creative energy that is being released in our country on a daily basis.
“Our goal is to create a data-driven digital economy, one that would lead to the way not just in Africa but globally as well.”
Osinbajo expressed the belief that Nigeria was on the right path as the nation had the people and the talent.”
He added that there existed a government that had seen the potential very clearly and showing the determination to unlock that potential.
According to him, technology has put great powers in our hands as individuals, but more importantly as co-creators and collaborators to positively and dramatically change the course of human existence.
Osinbajo noted that with technology, the country could solve many problems confronting the people.
He said in addition, the country could connect people, grow businesses, influence good governance and create better lives and a better country for the citizens and for the future.
He said the country was in many senses at an exciting moment in history because of what the young people were doing in innovation and their sheer energy and talent.
Accordingly, the Vice President noted that the future the country was looking at, which had already arrived, is bound to be an exciting one for the youth and adults.
He said the government would be with the youth in every step of the journey.
The Vice President thanked Google for democratising the country’s digital space, urging that such innovations should be extended to many of the nation’s markets where a large number of people pride their business.
He observed that through Artificial Intelligence, the country was guaranteed more food and better healthcare.
He said every step made to make technology available would lead to a quantum leap in the African development story and a major contribution to global stability and
growth.
