Africa-Press – Ghana. The Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC), a subsidiary of the Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation, has commissioned a community Information and Communication Technolgy (ICT) center at Kokofu in the Bekwai Municipality of the Ashanti Region.
This forms part of efforts to equip people in unserved and underserved communities with ICT skills by providing the needed infrastructure and equipment at all levels across the country.
A total of 3,169 persons, comprising women entrepreneurs, school dropouts, school leavers, head porters, teachers, students, and persons with disability have been trained in ICT across the country between August 15 and 31, 2022.
Ms Ama Pomaa Boateng, the Deputy Minister of Communications and Digitalisation, speaking at the graduation of the third cohort of trainees at the Digital Transformation Centre and the commissioning of the Kokofu Community ICT Centre, said the impact of ICT had been significant to the transformation of societies across the world.
She emphasided that over the last couple of years, the urgency of ICT development had been evident due to the devastating effect of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We have witnessed first-hand the need to accelerate ICT deployment efforts. Rebuilding and recovering from COVID-19 have been largely driven by technology and innovation,”Ms Boateng said.
“This, therefore, affirms the significance of government’s digitalisation agenda, which seeks to transform the economy of Ghana through the development of robust infrastructure to connect and ensure the inclusion of every citizen, for socio-economic development.”
She said ICT was a key factor in socio-economic development because it had positive effects on economic growth, productivity, and employment. Research, the Deputy Minister said, had shown that high income countries had benefitted enormously from ICT and internet penetration, and middle-income countries are beginning to benefit from same.
She said the Cyberlabs Programme, geared towards providing communities and institutions with ICT equipment, had over the years deployed computers and accessories to over 1,000 basic, junior and senior cycle institutions in the country, to facilitate teaching and learning.
Mr Prince Ofosu Sefah, the Chief Executive Officer, GIFEC, said 30 new community ICT centres had been established nationwide to increase access to ICT equipment and services. He pledged GIFEC’s determination to continue engaging beneficiaries to effectively assess the impact of the project for continuous improvement.
He said GIFEC was currently partnering with the International Telecommunications Union, the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation and Cisco to roll-out more digital transformation centres.
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