The Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF) secretariat is a department of NCC created under the Nigerian Communications Act (NCA) 2003 to support the provision of ICT services in unserved and underserved areas of Nigeria. The USPF is a globally accepted vehicle for promoting digital inclusion and rapid extension of information and Communication Technology (ICT) to rural areas in Nigeria.
It had a two-day workshop on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Utilization and Sustainability with its theme as,"ICT For Community Empowerment Through Knowledge-based Development".
The principle of the USPF is predicated on the necessity to bridge telecommunications access gap by service provision priorities in rural areas. Against this backdrop, Senator Olabiyi Durojaiye, Chairman of the Board of Commissioners, NCC and Vice Chairman of USPF, while giving the welcome speech at the event, urged participants at the workshop to fully harness the digital economic opportunities available online. He also encouraged the benefitting community of Ijebu-Igbo to use and protect the infrastructure provided.
Senator Durojaiye said, "maximizing the power of ICT to grow Nigerian economy, create jobs and enhance national competitiveness for all Nigerians remains a priority for NCC and the USPF".
Speaking at the event, Barrister Adebayo Shittu, the Minister of Communications and Chairman of USPF said, ''the government cannot provide jobs for all unemployed youths, but USPF want to identify hidden talents in Nigerians and equip them. Some countries have no Oil but are better developed than Nigeria. These Countries leverage on ICT so Nigerians need to learn more about ICT to aid development of the country".
Mr Kelechi Nwankwo, who represented the Secretary of USPF, Mr Ayuba Shuaibu, stressed that the goal of the workshop is to enrich participants’ understanding of sustainable solutions that encourage the use of ICT for development in Agriculture, Healthcare, Education and Security.
Nwankwo said, ''USPF is convinced that Socio-economic challenges are not simply solved by the presence of technologies (ICT) but by people's abilities to use such technologies to improve their wellbeing. These transformation of lives in rural communities is one of the reasons for the establishment of USPF".
Participants at the workshop were government officials, traditional leaders, ICT developers, secondary school students and journalists, and they all had an exciting and enlightening time at the lively 2-day knowledge acquisition discourse.
The interactive session was the highlight of the event for the Students as they got to learn more on ICT, there was also hands on development practice on Web & Mobile Android Development and Arduino projects.