As Danbatta Hosts Swedish Ambassador
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), on Thursday confirmed that Sweden has been supporting Nigerians on capacity building in the area of Information Communication Technology.
Professor Umar Garba Danbatta, the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of NCC explained that Nigerians have been benefiting through an initiative called; The Swedish Program for ICT in Developing Regions (SPIDER).
Danbatta made this known as the Commission hosted the Swedish Ambassador to ECOWAS, Ghana, Cameroon and Nigeria His Excellency Carl Michael Grans on Thursday in Abuja.
Danbatta, noted that the meeting was at the instance of the Commission’s assessment of the offer for capacity development and focus of the Swedish Programme for ICT Development in Emerging Regions (SPIDER), a dedicated programme instituted to provide capacity building in emerging markets.
Professor Danbatta said that the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority (PTS) had earlier trained some Nigerians. Thus, Danbatta stated that further collaboration to build capabilities of Nigerians on ICT will increase human resources and capacity in the ICT sector towards deepening broadband penetration.
The EVC stated 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.
Responding to the EVC, Ambassador Carl Michael Grans said that “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”. Grans acknowledged that Nigeria is ready for the digital revolution considering the approval given to conduct 5G tests recently.
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.
“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”, the EVC said.
NewswatchNigeria can report that SPIDER is a center at the Royal Technical University (KTH) in Sweden that mobilizes a network of Swedish and international experts on Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D).
The centre aim to help developing countries use ICT effectively and strategically to advance core development and poverty-reduction goals.
SPIDER is funded primarily by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) through multi-year funding for projects, advisory services, network-building and help desk support to Sida staff at headquarters and embassies.
SPIDER also serves as the Swedish operational counterpart and advisor for a number of Sida ICT-for-development projects in Sida priority countries.
