Africa-Press – Tanzania. AS three years have passed since President John Magufuli instructed all public institutions to start storing their data at National Internet Data Center (NIDC), only 84 organisations have so far complied to the directive.
This was revealed yesterday when the Minister for Communications and Information Technology Dr Faustine Ndugulile visited the centre.
The state-of-art tier-3 Data Centre that provides high quality database hosting services to public and private institutions, is so far serving a total of 149 institutions.
Due to the inadequate response, Dr Ngugulile reiterated the call for all public institutions to register and start using the NIDC, instead of relying on their own facilities.
“It is crucial for all institutions to use this centre as it was instructed by President Magufuli in June 2017,” said the minister.
Dr Magufuli made the instruction while launching the digital revenue collection system branded Electronic Revenue Collection System (ERCS).
He noted that the NIDC is a safer place for all public entities to keep their data, as it is equipped with modern Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure, managed and operated by a skilled team and enough space to accommodate all institutions.
The minister explained that NIDC offers accurate calculations and that its efficacy facilitated the increase of its revenue from 1.4bn/- in the year 2019 to 2.76bn/- in 2020.
Communications and Information Technology Deputy Minister Eng Andrew Kundo commended NIDC for being creative and coming up with technologies that have simplified services.
“It was this centre that came up with an online ticketing system for upcountry buses and the payment card (N– Card), which allows people to make payment for tickets and goods all over the country without carrying around bulky cash,” he said.
The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry for Communications and Information Technology Dr Zainab Chaula asked the NIDC officials to keep working closely with the experts from the ministry for the aim of keeping ICT at the centre of government’s day to day activities.
The move, she argued, will also play a crucial role in serving time and increase productivity, for the better prosperity of the country.
Briefing the minister, the NIDC Manager Geoffrey Mpangala said the centre has reduced the operation cost of its clients as they have been relieved from constructing their own facilities.
“Our clients are enjoying the high speed data, full security and on top of that, we are working 24 hours every day,” he assured.
Earlier, the Chief Executive Officer of Tanzania Telecommunication Company Limited (TTCL) Mr Waziri Kindamba said so far a total of 149 institutions are using the centre to store their data.
“Out of 149 institutions that were registered to be using this centre, 84 are public owned,” said Mr Kindamba, noting that they would keep on adding a number of clients.
In June 2017, President Magufuli instructed all ministries and government institutions to use the ERCS system provided by the NIDC, saying the scheme is very open and transparent for all transactions.
He also asked all telecommunication companies and financial institutions, to start using the system that was designed by the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) in partnership with Zanzibar Revenue Board (ZRB) purposely to monitor the collection of Value Added Tax (VAT) and excise duty.
