Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), has taken its public sensitization workshop on Local Community Network to Pasepa, a neglected community in Bwari Area Council of Abuja, Nigeria's Federal Capital Territory.
The intervention is part of CITAD's community-led approach to addressing the digital divide in Nigeria.
As part of the organization's community-led approach towards bridging the digital divide in Nigeria, the workshop which held on Wednesday at the ICT Centre deployed by CITAD and Actionaid Nigeria in the community also drew participants from neighbouring communities in Jiko, Ijebesa including traditional rulers, religious leaders, women leaders, youth leaders and other members of the communities.
This would be the third community the organization which is committed to the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for the development and promotion of good governance, is reaching out to in Abuja on the local community network centre.
Earlier this month, Humanity Watch reported the sensitization workshop held by the organization in Leleyi Gwari community in Kwali Area Council in the FCT as well as the capacity building for Dakwa community.
The Community Network Project is an initiative supported by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC), the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) through the Digital Access Programme (DAP) to provide access to communication network to local communities.
APC is a global network of civil society organisations that promotes the empowerment of citizens through ICT, and advocates access to a free and open Internet, in respect of human rights and freedoms in the online space.
While giving an overview of the project during the workshop, the Project Coordinator for FCT, Harira Wakili emphasized the need to provide a good communication network for citizens residing in rural areas, where private telecommunications operators will not be favorably disposed to invest because of their commercial tendencies.
She noted that good communication network breaks down the barriers of distance and time, allowing residents of rural areas to participate in economic and civic life far beyond their geographic region.
Wakili who doubles as the social Media Officer for CITAD further observed that across the globe, businesses are going online as a result of the breakthrough in internet technology, thereby, giving rise to the growth of e-commerce in the world and primarily in Nigeria which creates a lot of business opportunities.
On his part, CITAD Technical Officer, Suhail Abdullahi who presented a paper on Community Networks for Education, E- Commerce and Security told the participants that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has dramatically altered the ways we view education, security and commerce.
Abdullahi stressed that information and communication technology is one of the platforms that cannot be ignored, especially when it comes to insecurity becausea lot of instruments can be deployed to tackle and improve vigilance of all the organizational activities.
Throwing more light on the Community Network Project during an interview at the end of the workshop, the Project Coordinator, Wakili said the community had been identified as one the community network centre that the organization would be working on to build their capacity on how to have or build their own community Network centre in this part of the FCT.
"Looking at the issue of digital divide there is need for us to have our own local network in most of the places that don't have access to technology and internet. "This sensitization we are doing here today will help the people to have a more clear understanding of what the community network is all about, their commitment or what we are expecting from them and how they can operate the community network centres with or without CITAD.
"So our work is to sensitize them, work with them, build their capacity firstly to have a standard community network centre, how to handle it and thirdly, how they can sustain the centre when we are no more working with them," she said.
She said the community network project which is a community led approach to addressing the issue of digital divide is a global project taking place in Africa, Latin America and Asia, adding, in Africa six countries are working on the project like Nigeria which CITAD is anchoring.
" We have Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya and Malawi. The idea behind this project is that we are looking at creating more solution, addressing the digital divide we have between the rural and urban communities in our respective regions. So this project will help us in overcoming the digital divide challenges that we have in our communities and it's a project that is supported by Association of Progressive Communications and Common Wealth Development Office," she explained further.
On sustainability plan, Wakili said an advisory committee had been constituted for the project and seven micro organizations-five in Abuja and two in Bauchi state.
"This particular centre will serve as the micro organization in Pasepa community so we are working with the advisory committee who are people from various sectors of this country. We have people from the regulatory body, people from government, people from civil society organization that will work together in designing a strong advocacy plan and to call on the govt, regulators and other relevant stakeholders that need to give their support towards ensuring that the community network is sustained.
"Again we are building the capacity of these people from the micro organizations on how they can sustain the centre when CITAD is no more working on this area. So the issue of sustainability is key here. We are working to ensure that they have a strong sustainability plan on how to run the centre after we have finished the implementation.
"This project will benefit the Communities greatly because after we are done we will be having a network centre here that will be providing Network to those spots that don't have networks and the centre will serve as e-content centre, e-library centre, e-commerce centre that will be helping the activities if the community and neighbouring villages around here," she stated.
Speaking on behalf of his community, which is also to benefit from the project, the village Chief of Jiko, a neighbouring community, Bulus Wakili expressed joy over the project. While describing it as a welcome development , he pledged his cooperation for the successful implementation of the project and assured that it will be adequately utilized by his subjects.
"We are very happy for the coming of this project. If put in place, we will mobilize other neighbouring communities to be used to it and utilize it adequately to achieve the intended objectives," he said.
While thanking the initiators of the project for enlisting the community for the intervention, Wakili said the project will bring improvement and development to the people and the community as a whole.
" It will even help our children in practising how to operate commuters, internet, social media, how to make calls and some other things," he stated.
Mrs Linda Danjuma who spoke on behalf of women in the community, was
happy that the community was selected to benefit from the project.
"Our request is that our children should be trained on how to gainfully utize the project so that they can in turn train their younger ones," she said in an interview.
Danjuma who is the Women Leader in the community believe that if the technology is deployed in the community, a lot will be achieved.
She noted that in this era of digital technology, where everything is being digitalized and as their children depend on their phone for research and also writing their assignment, having a good network will make learning and their studies more easier.
"If there is no network, there is no way they can be able to do this. We will be happy if we get the network because with this we will be able to achieve a lot of things," she said.
Danjuma who is into small farming says women in the community are usually frustrated by the network challenges whenever they go-to the nearest town-Kubwa to sell their farm produce because when she's done with the days business because she is often unable to reach her husband to pick her back home from the town.
"Sometimes we don't sell our goods on time and we are not able to reach our husbands on phone to come and pick us from the town with their bikes because of the network problem," she lamented.
She said they spend most of the proceed from sales of their farm produce to hire commercial motorcyclist to convey them back to the community.
"If there was good network and we are able to reach our husbands, that will save us a lot of problem and the money realised from sales would have been saved to meet other pressing needs."
Buhari Mohammed who spoke for the youths in the community, thanked CITAD and it's partners for the intervention in the area of provision of access to networks.
He said the idea was a welcoming development, adding, if such initiative were put in place for rural communities long ago, Nigeria would have been like other countries in Europe, and other continents and may not have bee at the level it is presently.
"This will help us a lot in learning computer especially our younger ones coming up and with this computer they can excel. In the area of business it will benefit us much because with this we can engage in digital marketing, using social media platforms to market our farm produce and other items," he said
He appealed to other humanitarian organizations to come to their aid in the area of provision of portable water and road.
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