Nigeria’s Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Aii Ibrahim Pantami has officially launched the National Policy on Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) for Nigerians and flagged-off policy implementation through the training and empowerment of 600 youths in Nigeria.
The initiative, which was unveiled on Monday in Abuja would be supervised by the Nigeria Communications Satellite (NigComSat), one of the agencies under the supervision of the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy.
While welcoming guests, Dr. Pantami said the training is in furtherance of the federal government’s commitment to empower indigenes with the requisite digital skills for a globally competitive digital economy.
He noted that it was in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s digital skills, job creation and economic development Agenda, and the United Nation’s recent global policy on capacity building for citizens in the area of VSAT installation core skills.
Muslim News investigations revealed that the supervising agency will commence policy implementation in the six-geo political zones with 600 youths that will benefit and become certified upon the completion of programme.
The training, we reliably gathered will continue until the Ministry achieves the required human resource needed for the growing satellite industry in Nigeria.
The phase 1 is expected to take place in Kano and Kebbi (North West), Gombe and Bauchi (North East), Niger and Plateau (North Central), Ekiti and Lagos (South West), Abia and Anambra (South East) and Rivers and Akwa Ibom (South South).
The Honourable Minister stated that against the premise that VSAT is an obsolete resource, it is once again gaining relevance in today’s digital world.
“Addressing the capacity gap in the delivery of satellite-based services is therefore now considered as an urgent imperative to improve the quality of life in communities, especially in remote and rural areas where most of the population are situated.
“This programme would provide the required specialized skills for the promotion and deployment of satellite-based services in Nigeria. Nigerians would be equipped with the necessary skills to be able to install a VSAT and TVRO antenna anywhere to access all available satellite-based services.
“At the first instance, we are commencing the policy implementation in the six-geo political zones with 600 youths that will benefit and become certified after the programme and subsequently, we will continue this training until we achieve the required human resource needed for the growing satellite industry in Nigeria,” he reiterated.
“Our goal is to ensure the communication satellite industry is empowered and strengthened to be at par with other global leading satellite industries through enabling policies for the benefit of Nigerians,” he added.
In his remarks, the Chairman Board of Directors, Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited, NigComSat Ltd, Yusuf Kazure said, “when Nigeria as a nation is leveraging on the digital technologies to drive government’s digital services, it has to optimise the communications infrastructure for national economic development and digital innovation to create value and prosperity.”
On her part, the Director-General, NigComSat, Abimbola Alale, who expressed gratitude to the ministry for the support rendered to the agency, commended the staff and the board chairman of NigComSat Ltd for their commitment.
