Through a presentation by the Head of Media Management
Relations at the NCC, Dr. Omoniyi Ibietan, who later emerged as the
Secretary-General of APRA after an election at the event which took place from
13th to 17th May, 2024, participants had a glean into some of the digital
social investments and infrastructure expansion happening in Nigeria, through
regulatory efficiency of the Commission.
In his presentation with the title: “Digital Inclusion as
Arbiter of Accessible PR: A Case of the Nigerian Communications Commission,”
Ibietan highlighted some 36 initiatives of the Commission within and beyond its
immediate regulatory mandate, implemented to promote infrastructure expansion,
support SMEs, empower educational institutions, advance innovation and promote
digital up-skilling of Nigerian youths.
These include the Advanced Digital Awareness Programme for
Tertiary Institutions (ADAPTI); Campus Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIEP)
programme; e-PAD project for 232 institutions; Digital Appreciation Project
(DAP) for 247 secondary schools; Digital Literacy Training for Teachers (DLT);
Digital Integration Programme (DIP) for MSMEs; and the E-Accessibility
programme targeted at persons with disabilities.
Others include the Nigerian Girls Can Code Competition; the
Build A-Thon, aimed at enabling young persons to pitch and enhance their skills
and new learning experience; Tertiary Institutions Digital Centre (TIDC) for
250 institutions; 2,291 Digital Nigeria Centers (DNC) online/offline
educational resources; Local Application and Content Deployment programme; and
up to 72 Rural Broadband Initiative projects, among others.
According to him, the NCC through its component special
purpose vehicle, the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF) has undertaken
several digital infrastructure projects, programmes and collaborative
activities with stakeholders.
“These interventions have caused a shift in digital
literacy, fundamentally shrank the digital divide and opened the floodgates of
participation in political, economic and social processes, and enabled
accessible digital public relations in Nigeria,” he said.
While over 20 papers were presented at the APRA Conference
to expound its thematic focus of “One Africa, One Voice: Bridging Africa’s
Communication Divide”, Ibietan’s paper was the only presentation that showcased
digital infrastructure investments by any African country, even though many
papers advocated the centrality of adequate broadband infrastructure in
enhancing digital culture on the continent.
Ibietan emphasised that digital inclusion is the ability of
individuals and groups to access and fully participate in the digital society,
particularly in the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs)
such as the internet, computers, and mobile devices.
He submitted that digital inclusion encompasses not only
access to digital technologies but also the skills, knowledge, and resources
needed to effectively utilize them.
He also emphasised that the phenomenon of digital inclusion
is desirable for economies that aspire to grow and develop in remarkable and
measurable sense.
He said: “This is because digital inclusion promotes social
and economic opportunities, enhances civic engagement and participation,
supports education and lifelong learning, fosters digital literacy and skills
development, encourages innovation and entrepreneurship, and helps to bridge
the digital divide and reduce inequalities.”
He referenced that the COVID-19 pandemic and its fallouts
proved the significance of digital infrastructure to the economy.
Luckily, he said: “Nigeria’s investment in broadband
infrastructure partly explained why the nation was able to cope with the
outbreak of the COVID-19 virus because availability of digital infrastructure
helped individuals, businesses and the government to migrate their social and
economic activities to digital platforms in order to mitigate the devastating
effect of the Pandemic.”
He recommended constant and seamless communication among
stakeholders to ensure efficiency in the management and proper harvest of
derivable benefits social investment and infrastructural projects.