The Ministry of Communications has inaugurated three community Information and Communications Technology (ICT) centres in the Greater Accra Region as part of its digital transformation agenda to build the capacity of communities that lack access to ICT.
The centres, which were renovated and equipped with 45 computers, printers, projectors and Internet facilities at a cost of about GH¢211,500, are situated at Manhean and Kwashikuma in the Ga West municipality and the New Century Career Training Institute in the Ablekuma West municipality.
Among the services to be provided at the centres are ICT training and electronic services, as well as serve as community resource centres for the provision of business services and community development information.
However, agencies which patronise the connectivity services at the centres will be required to pay token fees to cover operational expenses.
The new ICT centre
The Minister of Communications, Mrs Ursula Owusu Ekuful, who inaugurated the New Century centre in the Ablekuma West municipality yesterday, said the government was committed to making ICT easily accessible to all communities in the country.
“These are existing centres that we have already built that are now being inaugurated. There are also old centres that needed to be renovated. There were only 28 functioning centres when we took office in 2017. Over 140 have been renovated and there are about 100 left to be made functional,” she added.
The minister, who is also the Member of Parliament for Ablekuma West said the country was moving into an era when one could decide whether to work online or offline.
“It has become imperative, in the wake of COVID-19, that we put up the digital infrastructure. This is why we are actively re-activating all these centres and working to provide the backbone infrastructure that will power all these systems,” Mrs Owusu Ekuful added.
Significance
The Director of Operations at the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC), Mr Yahaya Zakaria Osman, stressed the need for people to be digitally equipped.
He, however, noted that the greatest barrier to digital inclusion was the lack of digital skills among people living in deprived communities.
“The United Nations Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development calls for 60 per cent of youths and adults to have a minimum proficiency in sustainable digital skills by 2025. To achieve this goal, the Ministry of Communications, through GIFEC, has established CICs to serve as digital transformation centres within communities to build their digital capacities.
“GIFEC has, from 2017, trained over 1,100 teachers in basic ICT essentials, computer maintenance and hardware, as well as coding. These teachers have, in turn, trained about 134,000 pupils,” Mr Osman said.
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