Governor Nasir El-Rufai has commissioned the Kaduna ICT hub that is expected to cater for technological advancement in the state.
ICT (Information and Communication Technology) is an extended term for Information Technology (IT) which stresses the role of unified communications and the integration of telecommunications (telephone lines and wireless signals), computers as well as necessary enterprise software, middleware, storage, and audio-visual systems, which enable users to access, store, transmit, and manipulate information.
With the vision to have a vibrant ICT sector in Kaduna, the state government teamed up with Zenith bank build the Kaduna ICT hub.
The hub was declared open by Governor Nasir El-Rufai on the 5th of April 2017 at the recently concluded KadInvest 2.0 summit.
The summit, which was centred on making Kaduna ‘the investment destination of choice,’ featured a number of dignitaries such as the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar; Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the Emir of Kano; Donald Duke; J. J. Omojuwa and many others.
There were discussions on technological advancement, startups, entertainment, entrepreneurship and the girl-child education in the state.
The need for more ICT hubs in Nigeria is fundamental because it will aid growth in information technology, productivity, creativity and also provide employment in the country.
Speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria in 2016, an ICT expert Mrs Mary Uduma, who is the former President of Nigeria Internet Registration Association of Nigeria (NIRA), called on the government to build more ICT hubs in the country.
While the Kaduna government has yielded to this call, a lot more needs to be done to advance technology penetration in the Northern region and the country as a whole.