The Minister of Communications and Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson, Tuesday said the federal government’s mobile broadband plan was targeted at accessing 80 per cent of the entire population while fixed broadband plan would access 20 per cent of the population by 2017. Johnson made the disclosure in Abuja while inaugurating a 19-member council that would help drive the execution, implementation and delivery of the plan.

Private members of the council include Messrs. Jim Ovia and Ernest Ndukwe as co-Chairmen and Ms. Funke Opeke. Others are Mr. Titi Omoetu and Mr. Junaid Dikko. The goal of the broadband plan, the minister explained, was to have pervasive mobile broadband access to 80 per cent of the Nigerian population and fix broadband access to about 20 per cent by the year 2017. She acknowledged that with the credibility and intellectually prowess of the nominees, there was no doubt that they would deliver. Johnson said: “With this goal in mind, I have no doubt that with the credibility and the composition of the nominees to this council and working closely with the ministry, I have no doubt that we can achieve the objective of the broadband plan and look forward to work with you on the delivery of these objectives.

The inauguration of the council, according to the minister, represented an important milestone in the implementation of the national broadband plan, adding that the national broadband plan was presented to President Goodluck Jonathan for approval in May. She said: “In his remarks after the plan was presented to him, he emphasised that broadband is to digital age what electricity was to industrial age and that while African countries seemed to have missed out of the industrialisation age, they could not afford to miss out of the digital age and therefore he welcomed the national broadband plan.”

The minister stated that the plan had been widely disseminated and circulated and had generated positive feedback from both the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and the GSMA and other international bodies, adding that they all admitted that the plan is robust both in its breadth and depth.

She added: “The role of the council is to ensure that we do not only have a well-articulated plan, but also well executed plan as well. “The terms of reference include providing periodic progress report on the evaluation of the plan, facilitating the coordination and collaboration of the various stakeholders during plan implementation, ensuring that relevant agencies and institutions are actively engaged and monitoring the progress of the plan and highlighting adjustment areas if any.” According to her, the nomination process to the council was carefully done.

She said the council had both institutional, individual and government representations as well. Institutional representation, Johnson added, was to ensure that the requirement of the industry and the individual was taken into consideration as the plan was executed and that included Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS), the Nigeria Internet Group (NIG) and the Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria, all key institutions to the delivery of the broadband plan. In his remark, Ndukwe, said: “I’m excited and would like to congratulate President Jonathan for setting up the committee with the minister’s approval.

“That such a thing has happened means our labour was not in vain and I would also like to congratulate the minister for her vision and most especially, for her speed in constituting the broadband committee.” According to him, the deployment of broadband plan in the nation’s ICT sector is a step in the right direction, adding that something good was in the offing for the country.

He said: “As a country, we have an opportunity to use technology to transform the lives of the people. “Nigeria, with this broadband plan, is at a very important milestone in the move towards what I call broadband revolution in this country. “In Africa it is said that three out of 10 people have electricity, but that seven out of 10 have mobile phones which point to the fact that there is a lot of strength in technology and that has actually helped in building or transforming economies in Africa.”

Source: http://infonigeria24.com/mobile-broadband-plan-fg-targets-80-nigerians-by-2017/