The Centre for Information Technology and Development has called on the Federal Government to create a national policy for community networks in Nigeria that will bridge communication network deficits in rural areas.
The Executive Director, CITAD, Yinusa Yau, made the call during a press conference on Thursday in Abuja.
He stressed the need to unleash the potential of community networks to address connective gaps.
He said CITAD acknowledged the various efforts that the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy had made towards repositioning the country for a digital transformation.
However, he said that due to the digital deficit in the country, the good objectives of these policies and programmes would be difficult to achieve.
Yau said, “The initiatives have not, in a fundamental way, addressed the issues of bridging the connectivity gaps in the over 114 underserved and unserved communities in the country.
“It is instructive that the number of unserved and underserved communities is the result of the painstaking work of another government agency, the Universal Service Provision Fund.
“Community networks remain the tool to unleashing the creativity of citizens, mobilising their resources, skills and other endowments to meet their collective digital communication challenge by themselves without asking for government to fund such bridging efforts or waiting for MNOs who are reluctant to do so because what is left are the unprofitable leftovers.
“It is in this connection and in furtherance of the voice of the stakeholders meeting, we would like to renew our call on the government to as a matter of urgency provide the country with a national policy on community networks.”
According to him, a large number of people in rural areas will be left behind in the Federal Government’s drive for a digital economy and broadband penetration if a national policy for community networks is not created.
He, therefore, called on the ministry and agencies under it to create a national policy that would be beneficial to those in the rural areas.
“In particular, we would like to call on the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy to set up a mechanism for the development of a National Policy for Community Networks,” Yau said.
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