Funmi Peter-Omale
6 February 2006
Abuja — Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has stated that world renowned Internet search technology giant, Google, has selected Abuja as one of about seven African cities to be fully connected with wireless network.
While speaking at a briefing on the 30th Anniversary celebration of Abuja, the Minister said the Google project was one of the United States based company's projects earmarked for selected African countries of which Nigeria is one.
According to her, "Recently, I met with the Chief Executive Officer of Google. Google is trying to have a plan to have one city in Nigeria to be completely wireless. And I told them what we are doing in Abuja and they are interested."
She disclosed that the wireless project is one of Google's "social responsibility projects" noting that with the progress so far made in the FCT with the Sub-Urban WiFi project, the Google project would go a long way in complementing what is on ground.
"They said they were already doing a proposal for Nigeria and I suggested Abuja because I feel they must help you complete the wireless project you have already started. They will want to work with you. The project is one of their socially-responsible projects so it will bring a lot of benefits to Nigeria", she said.
She said the Federal Government was excited that the Federal Capital City is fast turning into a technological haven especially with the proposed Technology Village and the Institute of Technology noting that the boost will "make Abuja a technology centre."
"This is a large country and I know there are one or two things we can do in this country that are technologically based. The fact that we are building a technology village and we are even having a technology institute is very exciting.
"There is an international endeavour to get some Centres of Excellence in Technology in some African countries and we are to get Abuja to be one of them. The Institute for Science and Technology will not only be for Nigeria but also for all over Africa. This project is being supported by the G8, the World Bank and other international organisations. So we are very proud of this," she said.
She lauded the Minister of the FCT, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai for the giant strides he had been able to establish in the FCT saying "We recognise that something different is happening in this city because we got a remarkable person who is leading the pack. Somebody who is not afraid to do the right thing, someone who sometimes, the people may misunderstand the reason he's doing what he is doing. But I think he has explained himself today."
She stressed that unknown to Nigerians, whatever is happening in the FCT in terms of government reforms and administration is central to the reforms that we are doing in this country.
"We don't talk about it often enough but you may not realise that it helps us with sector administration in terms of setting the pace for how a city or a territory should be managed. We are using Abuja as a pilot. The Minister is also leading the Public Sector Reform; the President has appointed him to do that and this is no mean feat. It is also not an easy or a popular feat. He is doing very tough jobs that are so difficult for other people to do", Okonjo-Iweala said.
She specifically lauded the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) for the computerisation of land records in Abuja as directed by the President noting that the way it had been accomplished has set the pace for other states.
"If you look at those things holding up Nigeria from allowing businesses or foreign investments from coming in or even local businesses from picking up, the issue of land, titles to land, access to land is one central issue. We needed a place where we can say this issue has been resolved and Abuja has set that pace.
"Let me give an example, one of the things blocking private sector in the country is the fact that we don't have computerised, valid records or land titles. We don't have people who can hold up a piece of paper and say here is a title I can even use as collateral or for business or even for other endeavours. We can now point to Abuja as a place where this has been done and our hope and expectation is that we are now going to push this to all the states", she added.
She expressed optimism that the system would be adopted in other states of the federation saying that two or three states have already started emulating what is being done in the FCT.
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