Zakariyya Adaramola
3 November 2008
Lagos — Lagos-based information technology firm Chams Plc unveiled its first of several digital malls to be built across the country.
The malls, multi-purpose IT facilities equipped with 1,000 computers as internet cafe.
Developed under a new subsidiary called ChamsCity, the world-class digital centres aimed at facilitating payment, identification, entertainment and large scale data management.
The Group Managing Director, Chams Plc., Mr. Demola Aladekomo, said at the commissioning of the Lagos mall that it was built in response to needs for facility that can be used for identity registration and information processing.
He added that the Lagos facility operates a cashless, innovative and pioneering environment for digital transactions and is already regarded as the largest cyber cafe in the world with over 1000 computers.
Speaking at the event, the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission, (NCC) Mr.Ernest Ndukwe, said the new facility is a product of the liberalisation of the telecommunication sector which started since democracy returned in 1999.
He noted that the country had today climbed to the peak of telecommunications development in Africa and that ChamsCity would facilitate further development of the sector.
According to him, Nigeria now had the highest subscriber base of telephone users on the continent and is regarded as one of the fastest growing markets in the world.
Ndukwe, who was the special guest of honour at the event noted that Nigeria had long needed such a facility as ChamsCity expressing hope that it would help resolve the issue of identity management in Nigeria, which he noted had been a problem for a long time.
Ndukwe said further that he expected the centre to help develop human capacity in Nigeria, especially in this age where IT literacy had become a main determinant of one's level of education.
Ndukwe said more work is still ahead for Nigeria to become a true leading economy globally.
The General Manager, ChamsCity, Mr. Sola Bickersteth, said the Lagos centre is equipped with over 1000 computers. He added that this number was higher than that of a cyber centre in New York, which boasts of about 850 computers, a figure acknowledged by the Guinness Book of Records as the largest in the world. In all, ChamsCity is to set up digital mall facilities in all the states of the federation.
Already, the Abuja facility has been completed, while the remaining facilities located in several parts of the country are in various stages of completion.
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