Nigeria, November 11, 2014: The federal government recently found that at least 40 million Nigerians do not have access to Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Minister of Communication Technology, Omobola Johnson, shared the information with media while inaugurating Base Transceiver Station (BTS) for the provision of telephone service in Igbo Olodumare.
“In order to strategically address the ICT needs of these people, based on the results revealed by the GIS-based study, the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF) has created a map of ICT Gap Clusters —areas that are unserved or underserved. In the GIS-based map, each cluster has the requisite attributes – population estimates, size, major towns, main economic activities/occupation, institutions, vegetation type etc. that would assist USPF in designing projects that address the peculiar ICT needs of each community.’’
Johnson said the BTS was being deployed across the South-West states by Odu’atel through subsidies provided by the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF), adding that no fewer than 110 rural communities, with an estimated population of 664,500 people, would have access to telephony services.
Source: Nigerian Tribune
