Nigeria takes technology to countryside

AS the world becomes a global village, Nigeria is taking Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to the countryside in a bid to bring modern communication technology to rural people.

The National Information Technology Development Agency of Nigeria (Nitda) said the move would expose both primary and secondary scholars to advanced technology.

According to the Nitda director-general, Cleopas Angaye, his agency was doing all it could to ensure that the use of internet became widespread.

Angaye said this could only assist the majority of the less privileged communities in the countryside to access information through the use of internet facilities as well as allowing them to use mobile cellphones for communication.

“The agency is looking at ways of providing rural internet development centres in the remote parts of the country to educate the rural populace on the usefulness of information communication technology as a tool for national development,” said Angaye.

After South Africa, Nigeria is second largest developed economy on the African continent with countries such as Kenya, Zimbabwe, Egypt, Tunisia and Ghana also enjoying the benefits of modern technology, especially in the areas of information communication and science.

OKORO CHINEDU