Commissioning Of Rural Information Technology Centers In Ido-Osi And Omuo-Ekiti Local Government Areas.

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ICT PROJECTS IN EKITI STATE: COMMISSIONING OF RURAL
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CENTERS IN IDO-OSI AND OMUO-EKITI LOCAL GOVERNMENT
AREAS

The Honourable Minister of Communication Technology (Mrs. Omobola Johnson, herein
present or her representative)

The Director-General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) – Prof.
C. Aganye

All Accompanying Permanent Secretaries, Directors and other officials from the Federal
Ministry of Communication Technology, NITDA and other Federal MDAs herein present
The Honourable Chairmen of Ido-Osi and Ekiti East (Omuo) Local Government Areas
Their Royal Majesties and Highnesses herein present
Officials of the State Government herein present
Distinguish Ladies and Gentlemen

Appreciation of FGN ICT Projects in Ekiti State
On behalf of my beloved people of Ekiti State and in particular of Ido-Osi and Ekiti East Local
Government Areas specifically we will like to thank the Federal Government for this project,
which is worthy of commendation. There is no doubt in the mind of anyone who is duly aware of
events and happenings around the world today that the importance of information and
communication technologies (ICT) for socio-economic transformation and development our any
society cannot be overemphasized. This transformation has manifested itself as we can see in the
growth and worldwide expansion of social network media such as Facebook, Twitter; business
social networks such as LinkedIn and many others all of which provide great opportunities for
anyone connected to the Internet or having Internet access to better their lives through joining
appropriate “network of prosperity”, which will ordinarily not be possible in their local
environment. It is no longer acceptable for anyone to be left behind by not being connected or
have access to the globalized world/information society. ICTs provides opportunities in different
strata of our lives be it education (e-learning), health (e-health services, telemedicine, e-medical
records retrieval system and remote physician support system, hospital management etc),

communication (IP Telephony/Voice-over-IP that helps to reduce cost of talking to our loved
ones and business partners, friends and associates etc) and many other great applications too
many to mention.

It is therefore commendable that these ICT Projects are being commissioned today in our State
for the benefit of our people. We are therefore very grateful to the Federal Government in this
regard.

Observation – Pending FGN/NITDA ICT Projects in Ekiti State
However, we note that there are more of these interesting projects that still needed to be executed
in our State and these include similar Rural ICT Centers in some other local governments of
Ekiti State as can be seen in the table below, which is an extract from the Federal
Government/NITDA Budget of 2012 Provision.

FGN - RURAL INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PROJECTS
S/n FOR EKITI STATE (2012 BUDGET PROVISION) BUDGET
CONSTRUCTION OF ICT AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING
CENTRE AT ADO LGA SECRETARIAT, ADO EKITI, EKITI
1 STATE 32,001,125.00
CONSTRUCTION OF ICT AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING
CENTRE AT IBEDOYIN QUARTERS, IYIN EKITI,
2 IREPODUN/IFELODUN LGA, EKITI STATE 32,001,125.00
CONSTRUCTION AND EQUIPMENT OF ICT CENTRE IN IJERO
3 EKITI, EKITI STATE 50,000,000.00
CONSTRUCTION AND EQUIPMENT OF ICT CENTRE IN
4 ARAMOKO EKITI, EKITI STATE 50,000,000.00
CONSTRUCTION AND EQUIPMENT OF ICT CENTRE IN EFON
5 ALAAYE, EKITI STATE 50,000,000.00
ACQUISITION /EQUIPING OF ICT CENTRE AT ODE-EKITI,
6 GBONYIN LGA, EKITI STATE 79,750,000.00

7 ICT CENTRE AT EMURE EKITI, EMURE LGA,EKITI STATE 30,000,000.00

323,752,250.
GRAND TOTAL 00

There is no doubt that budget provision of over three hundred and twenty-three million naira will
go a long way to complement the effort of the State Government to deliver ICT services to the
people of Ekiti State and will therefore appreciate the intervention of the Honourable Minister of
Communication Technology/Director-General of NITDA to see to the completion of these
projects in this fiscal year.

Ekiti State Government ICT Strategy

Ekiti State Government has a two prone strategy to use ICT for development of the State and
these are:
1. Internal-to-Government ICT Strategy (I2G-S) and
2. External-to-Public ICT Strategy (E2P-S)
While the I2G-S is designed with the goal of transforming the State’s Civil Service System for
higher productivity, efficiency and effectiveness in government’s operation through reduction in
cost of service delivery to the people, the E2P-S strategy is designed to address the ICT needs of
the general public in Ekiti State through appropriate ICT for Development (ICT3D) framework.
It is in this second strategy that the FGN/NITDA projects in our local governments/communities
fits squarely into our approach, which include our Digital Ekiti Project and Broadband Access
Plan. In the course of the year, the State Government will put in place appropriate legislations
(ICT Laws and Regulations) to ensure fair, and appropriate use of ICTs in Ekiti State such that
knowledge acquired through these infrastructure provisioning will be channelled to good use and
not toward cybercrime. We have already developed appropriate ICT policies and guidelines to
address this area and this will become available to members of the public in due course.

Our 3C’s Principles
Sequel to the above, the State Government believes in the principle of cooperation, collaboration
and coordination at all time especially in the areas of strategy formulation and implementation,
project and programme design and implementation and public policy formulation, design,
implementation and evaluation such that it is always the people that benefit at all time while cost

of governance is drastically reduced to the participating entities including the Federal
Government, the State Government, Local Governments and their development partners and
NonProfit Organizatons such as local Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) within the local
communities and those that are national and international in character.

Expectation of Ekiti People
Our people in Ekiti State there expect that these ICT Projects just like other projects being
executed by the Federal Government are not only maintained but sustainable in the long term.
Consequently, we will like to request that the Federal Government/NITDA domesticate and
localize support and maintenance of these facilities and infrastructure with appropriate provision
made for them in subsequent year budget allocation/provision. The State and Local Governments
in Ekiti State are fully ready to work with Federal Government to achieve this goal and meet
expectation of our people. The above indicated 3Cs’ principles become very useful in this regard.
We are therefore willing and very ready to engage the Federal Government through NITDA and
appropriate department of the Federal Ministry of Communication Technology for efficient
programme and project design, implementation and sustainability. The State’s ICT Department
and Bureau of Infrastructure and Public Utilities, Office of the Government will be contacting
and engaging the Honourable Minister and Director-General of NITDA in earnest to kicks-start
this process.

Conclusion
Once again, I will like to thank the Honourable Minister for the invite to be a special guest of
honour in this event and look forward to strategic cooperation, collaboration and coordination of
projects and programmes in all areas of ICT4D in Ekiti State.

Thank you all and God bless.

This presentation was made by the Director-General, ICT, Ekiti State Government on behalf
of the Ekiti State Governor at the commissioning of Rural Information Technology Centers in
Ido-Osi and Omuo-Ekiti Local Government Areas.

Commissioning Of Rural Information Technology Centers In Ido-Osi And Omuo-Ekiti Local Government Areas.

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