Shortly after his appointment, the Minister of Communication spent time visiting a lot of places in a bid to have the Communication and Information Technology sector living up to certain expectations. His very short expeditions are however characterized by a tendency to give the media something to write about or the people something to worry about.
In his recent visit to the corporate headquarters of Vanguard media limited, Mr. Aebayo Shittu hinted that Nigeria could very soon have its first Information and Communication Technology (ICT) University in the country. After evaluation of the current infrastructure at the Digital Bridge Institute (DBI), there’s a strong reason to believe that DBI -- located in Oshodi, Lagos -- could be the home for this development that’s already gaining fast attention.
DBI, which is currently a Nigerian International Centre for Information and Communications Studies could be converted to a full ICT university especially as such centres at the moment lack patronage.
According to the Minister, his tour made him realise that the country was sitting on a goldmine that is yet to be explored to its full potential. In his words:
"The centre will be converted to ICT University where people will be trained in the Information Communication Technology development. ICT goes beyond Computer as a course. There is hidden treasure in the DBI which government is not exploiting. The state of ICT facilities in the centre is strong.”
This is a positive development just as much as its been long anticipated, given the nature of the educational system and technical institutions in the country, which is lacking in infrastructure to drive the future generation of tech in the country.
