In a bid to support bridging of the connectivity gap in Nigeria, the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), in collaboration with the Hello World Initiative, has commenced training of communities in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja on digital skills.
The project was launched with the aim to support bridge the digital gap in Dakwa, a community under Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), among other digitally disadvantaged communities within the FCT, and beyond.
Speaking with newsmen at the auspicious occasion on Monday in Abuja, the CITAD Board Chairman, Prof. Amina Kaidal hinted that CITAD and its partner, Hello World are building hubs for communities and areas that are hard to reach in terms of internet connectivity.
She said,”We are here for this “Hello World Hub building for communities that are hard to reach, you know in most areas you cannot find internet connectivity and so what CITAD is doing is to open up those communities to have easy access to the internet.
“We are training people from atleast 3 communities that are here now. The Dakwa community their own hi. has already been built but they are here to share experience with other communities. Most of the communities are just within Abuja for the time being.
“The most significant thing is to see that these communities are connected to internet, so they can experience what other people are experiencing in other areas in terms of communication.”
In terms of collaboration she said they are for the time being only in partnership with “Hello World Initiative”, adding that they are open to more collaboration with organisations that are interested in the project.
“For now the only collaboration we have is for organisations like “Hello World” that are trying to work in partnership with CITAD.
“We have not experienced any challenges so far because we are just starting, we are just starting with one community, so by the time we expand we may see the challenges more. But now from the one we have done so far there is no challenges. We are going to hear the challenges here now because the communities members are here.
“From this community (Dakwa) now, we are expanding to other communities. Our target for the time being is areas surrounding Abuja. It is not something you can start everywhere at once, it is not a government project. It is something that we are for collaborations from people, after this we can expand.
“The message we want to put across is that we want more organisations to come in to collaborate with us, as we do similar things somewhere else so that we can have as much coverage as we can in the rural areas,” she said.
Also speaking, the Director of implementation and Programmes, Hello World Initiative, Komugisha Fiona Esther, expressed excited over the partnership with CITAD to bridge the digital divide in the unserved or underserved communities in Abuja.
“We are very excited at “Hello World” to be here in Abuja in partnership with CITAD to build or support bridge the digital divide here in Abuja communities.
“One of the things we are doing together with CITAD is that we have brought together 7 communities, to come together to train them how to build their own digital apps so that they can be able to go out there in their communities and bridge the digital divide and support their support their communities.
“We are hoping to achieve a collective community of people coming together to learn, to empower themselves and to empower their communities,” she said.
One of the beneficiaries, Ismaila Shuaibu from Dakwa community, said,”Am very happy with this project because it started since 2021 that I undergo with CITAD engaging us in mobilization and sustainability training.
“Their collaboration with “Hello World” is going to install the community network that is very hard in our community. We are very happy because we have been suffering about network. Our brothers and sisters who are going to school do not have access to connectivity or information on anything pertaining digital skills.
“So, we thank God that CITAD and Hello World are helping us to install network in our community.”
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