Steve Unegbu, Umuahia
As a major boost in Governor Alex Otti’s administration plan of digital transformation of the State, the Abia state government has signed a Memorandum Of Understanding with the MTN Nigeria limited.
The Commissioner for Information, Prince Okey Kanu who made this known while briefing Journalists at Government House Umuahia on the outcome of this week’s exco meeting presided by Governor Otti, said the strategic partnership between both entities was the outcome of several months of meetings and negotiations between Abia State Government officials and the management of MTN.
According to him, “This MOU covers six very important areas: coverage of 100 percent of the population and space of the whole Abia with broadband access before year-end, is a device ownership scheme for Abia Civil servants.This is a situation whereby MTN Nigeria limited will finance the acquisition of laptops, smartphones and Wi-Fi devices for Abia State Civil Servants, digital governance and this will entail the provision of cloud services dedicated cloud computing services, the establishment of an Abia Digital Mall.
“It will involve the usage of multiple digital tools to drive SME growth in Abia state, the provision of 4G/5G services in Umuahia,Aba and Ohafia before the end of the year and six will be the provision of digital market place to drive both e-governance and e-commerce in the State.”
He explained that the device ownership scheme for Abia Civil Servants are geared towards enhancing their effectiveness on their job, adding that provision of digital marketplace will attempt to distribute bold manifestation Governor Otti’s vision of digital transformation of Abia State to 21st century.
He further informed that Governor Otti being technology savvy expects no less for the Abia citizenry, noted that the important partnership would help the State to leverage technology to drive socio -economic growth.
He maintained that the project, when fully realized would definitely turn the fortunes of the State around and would place Abia State not just among the first in the country,but among the first in Africa and the world.
