NITDA's begins development of National Information Infrastructure Backbone

This was disclosed last week at the first public forum of the Joint Action Committee on IT awareness which was held in Lagos.

Speaking at the forum, the Director General of NITDA, Prof. Gabriel Ajayi said that as part of the project, NITDA had succeeded in developing already, athe nucleus of a National Public Service Information Network (Psnet) which now links the Presidency with Federal Ministries for easier interaction. The hub of PSnet is at NITDA headquarters.

Prof. Ajayi said that the completion of the nucleus of PSnet is only the first phase of the elaborate NIIB which the agency plans, but assured that it is an important starting point.

He contended that the overall objective of the plan is to have the 36 States of the federation set up their own State PSnet which would then be linked to the national PSnet.

Giving further insights into the state of preparedness of NITDA for the project, Prof. Ajayi said that the agency had succeeded in facilitating the establishment of State PSnet by 9 out of Nigeria's 36 States, stressing that in the next few months, more States were set to join in the ICT revolution taking place in the country.

To complete the circle, the States would be encouraged to link the local governments so that governments can also interact at that level without hinderance. This would facilitate the linkage of the three tiers of government by the PSnet.

As part of the objective of promoting the development of ICT in the country, NITDA has also embarked on the development of baseline studies of ICT infrastructure in the country. The work which began some few months ago would take inventory of ICT infrastructure in both the private and public sectors of the economy. It is aimed at providing a good reference point for proper and adequate planning for ICT development in Nigeria. NITDA expects that the project would be completed by the end of the month.