The Minister of Communication and Digitilisation (MoCD), Mrs Ursula Owusu Ekuful, at the weekend inaugurated the Ghana Rural Telephony and Digital Inclusion Project at Tolon and Kumbungu districts in the Northern Region.
The project designed to benefit three communities in the districts included Tibung, Jagriguyili and Nagbligu.
It is expected to give hope to the people residing in these communities for them to adopt, and adapt to the use of ICT in their daily activities.
It being implemented by the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC) under the supervision of the Ministry of Communication and Digitalisation (MoCD).
At a durbar of chiefs and people to inaugurate the cell site in Jagruguyili, the Minister said the idea of the project was to ensure that every community in the country was connected to the networks.
She said the government would be building 3000 cell sites by the end of 2023 and so far 2000 of them have been completed across the country.
“The brain behind the project is to promote digital inclusion across the country and also to help reduce the gap in the digital divide, most especially in under-served communities in the rural areas,” she added.
The minister said the government was committed to the expansion of telephony network to the rural communities in the country, adding that network accessibility had become a basic necessity to every citizen.
“We are building a digital Ghana, we want every part of this country to experience the benefit of digital technology in the country.
“The children need to have these digital technology skills to expand their knowledge likewise the chiefs and the farmers to boast their businesses,” the minister said.
Mrs Ekuful also added that, the people would have the equal opportunity to innovations being introduced by the government in its digital transformation drive, stressing the government’s commitment to digitalising every part of the country.
The Minister, however, appealed to the chiefs and the people to protect the cell site so that it would continue to serve the communities very well.
The minister as part of her visit, also toured some ICT centres in the region to have a full glare of the learning of the 1000 girls in ICT project in the region.
Some of the centres visited were the Tamale CIC, Sagnarigu CIC, Jisinaayili CIC and two institutions, Ghana Senior High School and Dabokpa Technical Institute all in the Tamale metropolis, and beneficiaries of the e-transform project.
She said the government intended to construct 305 ICT labs with 40-seater computers in some selected SHSs across the country, adding that plans were far advance to start the project in the various selected schools across the country.
“Since 2017 the government has been supporting schools with laptops along with their teachers to make sure that the learning of ICT gets to the entire students of this country,” the minister stated.
The Member of Parliament for Tolon, Alhaji Habib Iddrisu, on behalf of the chiefs, thanked the minister and the entire staff of the ministry for giving the districts such a digital device.
FROM YAHAYA NUHU NADAA, TOLON
