CITAD Hosts ICT Business Forum, proffer ways forward for Nigeria’s ICT Development

Communiqué Issued at the end of One Day ICT Business Forum Organized by Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) that held on 30th August, 2023 at CITAD Head Office in Kano

The Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) has initiated a monthly ICT Business Forum which engages IT professionals, ICT Business Owners, ICT Start-ups, and youth with potentials in the ICT Sector to meet and discuss issues that will promote the ICT penetrations in the country as well as address foreseen problems that have the potentials of affecting the ICT development in the country.

The theme for the August edition of the forum was ‘Addressing the Energy Needs of the ICT Sector’, and its objectives were to: 1. Identify the ICT energy needs that will promote youth employability in the country.

2. Examine the challenges in the ICT energy sector

3. Discuss the role of academic institutions in addressing the ICT needs Speakers and panellists at the forum have background in the academia, telecommunications industry, ICT business industry, Nigeria Communications Commission while the participants were from private companies, civil society, IT institutions, etc. During the session, the discussants and the participants made observations and recommendations to improve of the ICT sector and address the energy needs of the sector. It was observed during the discussion that:

The discussants also observed that the country is still working with an old system of transmitting power to the end users in the country which contributes to poor power supply. It was observed that the use of diesel to fuel generators is polluting the environment which may lead to environmental degradation

There are abundant sources of renewable energy for utilization in the country such as solar power generation in the northeast and northwest and hydropower generation in the south

The production and maintenance of ICT equipment for operation is not done locally Nuclear power plant is identified as the best as source of energy can the country Participants made the following recommendations: We recommend that actors in the field of ICT find alternative energy sources like solar and waste energy address the issue of environmental pollution and reduce the cost of energy maintenance We recommend that communications companies to use part of their gains to help Nigerians in getting alternative energy in the country.

We recommend that citizens demand for transparency and accountability in the communication industry for improved performance.

Signed: Isah Garba, Senior Programmes Officer, Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD).