Nigeria has displayed various digital social investments through the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) at the just-concluded 35th annual conference of the African Public Relations Association (APRA) in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.
A statement issued by the NCC noted that through a presentation by the Head of Media Management Relations at the NCC, Dr. Omoniyi Ibietan, who later emerged as the Secretary-General of APRA after an election at the event which took place from 13th to 17th May, 2024, participants had a glean into some of the digital social investments and infrastructure expansion happening in Nigeria, through regulatory efficiency of the Commission.
In his presentation with the title: “Digital Inclusion as Arbiter of Accessible PR: A Case of the Nigerian Communications Commission,” Ibietan highlighted some 36 initiatives of the Commission within and beyond its immediate regulatory mandate, implemented to promote infrastructure expansion, support SMEs, empower educational institutions, advance innovation and promote digital up-skilling of Nigerian youths.
These include the Advanced Digital Awareness Programme for Tertiary Institutions (ADAPTI); Campus Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIEP) programme; e-PAD project for 232 institutions; Digital Appreciation Project (DAP) for 247 secondary schools; Digital Literacy Training for Teachers (DLT); Digital Integration Programme (DIP) for MSMEs; and the E-Accessibility programme targeted at persons with disabilities.
Others include the Nigerian Girls Can Code Competition; the Build A-Thon, aimed at enabling young persons to pitch and enhance their skills and new learning experience; Tertiary Institutions Digital Centre (TIDC) for 250 institutions; 2,291 Digital Nigeria Centers (DNC) online/offline educational resources; Local Application and Content Deployment programme; and up to 72 Rural Broadband Initiative projects, among others.
According to him, the NCC through its component special purpose vehicle, the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF) has undertaken several digital infrastructure projects, programmes and collaborative activities with stakeholders.
