Developing nations, especially African countries have been urged to invest in Information Communication Technology (ICT) to enhance their advancement.
This was the view of Akwa Ibom State Governor Godswill Akapabio in an interview with journalists at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, yesterday. Akpabio was on his way to Dubai to deliver a paper at the Nigerian Day of ITU Telecom World 2012.
Akpabio warned that if governments in the developing countries failed to embrace ICT, it would be impossible for them to meet up with the happenings in the globe, insisting that the importance of ICT in today’s world could not be overstressed.
He said in order not to be caught napping, the Akwa Ibom State Government recently established an elibrary, the first of its kind in the West African sub-region, adding that the library covers an area of 31 square metres with a building footprint area of 4, 000 square metres.
The governor said users would have access to over 60 million downloadable ebooks, e-journals, audio and video books and would be able to learn new languages in the language laboratory.
“The library is fitted with anti-theft book security device,” Akpabio said.
He, however, noted that Nigeria was not left out in the ICT revolution, which he beliefs had moved the country from 600, 000 telephone lines in 1999 to over 100,000,000 mobile functional lines this year.
