Mrs Monilola Udoh, Director of Information and Communications Technology, Ministry of Communication, has called for an alliance between the government and civil society organization to promote digital inclusion and good internet practices in Nigeria.
She made the call while speaking as a panelist at the just concluded 2019 Digital Rights and Inclusion Forum (#DRIF19).
Speaking on ”Moving Policy Makers into Action to Advance Digital Inclusion – A Candid Conversation”, Udoh asserted that the country is not short of ideas, but it is operating a system that is an irony of some sort.
She said: “We still have policies but not doing much to achieve the target. We need to understand that government alone cannot achieve the success that is needed.
“There should be collaboration between government and civil society to open up conversation around good practices.”
Also speaking at the panel, Dr Ernest Ndukwe, Chairman, Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI), posited that government should make the internet available to the public through creating a favourable digital environment for investment.
He stated that unhindered access to internet would not only promote digital literacy but also eliminate factors that inhibit internet access.
He said: “Internet is intertwined with education, if one wants to operation on a digital platform and not on voice, one needs the basic skills.”
On her part, Ms Funke Opeke, Chief Executive Officer, MainOne, stated that the problem with Nigeria is lack of coordination and/or translation.
She also lamented the lack of internet in rural areas adding that there is need for proper training to acquire the right skill set.
“There are many roadmaps to push for internet access and the country has attained 30 per cent penetration but the issues is that penetration is mostly in the urban areas while the rural areas are excluded.
“There is need for translation of the existing policies to realtime one, consistency, collaboration and training to acquire the skill set will ensure to achieving success,” she said.
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