Redefining Governance through Digital Revolution in Anambra State

The Managing Director and CEO of Anambra State ICT Agency, Mr. Chukwuemeka Fred Agbata (CFA), in collaboration with the Governor, Prof Charles Chukwuma Soludo, CFR has embarked on series of projects to bring the digital revolution in the state through the introduction of various ICT projects to achieve the Governor’s mantra of ‘Everything Technology, Technology Everywhere’.

Mr Agbata said in a chat with the media, that his team has made some strides at the beginning of the Soludo Administration and that they are working towards achieving the Full Implementation of the Zero Right of Way (RoW) policy by bringing ICT and other infrastructure closer to the people.

In his words, “Governor Soludo’s bold move to strengthen infrastructure has led to the full implementation of the Zero Right of Way (RoW) policy. This has motivated InfraCos to deepen tech infrastructure in the state by laying of fibre ducts, resulting in improved quality of service across the State.”  Anambra remains one of the few states currently implementing the Zero ROW policy as a first step towards fully deepening broadband penetration.

On collaboration and Interconnectivity, Mr Agbata, said they are working in partnership with the Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN) and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to improve internet connectivity and reduce the cost of internet services across the state, making it accessible to Anabrarians.

Disclosing how far they have gone in achieving this, Agbata said, “A Pilot Phase of the Public Wi-Fi (Solution Wi-Fi) has been activated at Aroma Junction, Book Foundation and Unizik Gate, Ifite Awka. This marks a significant stride and efforts are ongoing to extend this Public Wi-Fi to various public spaces across the State in line with the People’s Manifesto.”

The E-Government Infrastructure is another major achievement by the agency which is aimed at distributing laptops and PC’s to different ministries in the state. He told the media that the  Agency, through its baseline study of E-government Infrastructure in Anambra State has set the stage for a digital revolution in the civil service by procuring and distributing the first batch of 200 state-of-the-art PCs and laptops to various MDAs through the approval of the governor, Prof. Soludu.

Another key achievement of the Agency is the Domain Adoption and Transition/Digital/Internet Assets Standardization. This is a measure that every government agency in the state adopts the Federal Government-approved .ng second-level domain, which is the “anambrastate.gov.ng” and “an.gov.ng” state-owned domains. He mentioned that they have successfully enforced and moved many of the domains to the anambrastate.gov.ng, while they are putting measures in place to move the remaining ones to complete the adoption.

Mr. Agbata thanked the media for all their support and promised that he would do everything in his power to fulfill all the promises he made to them while also soliciting their unrelenting support in ensuring the achievements of the agency are brought to public awareness.