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FEC approves N24.2bn for free Internet facilities in airports, markets

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By Ukpono Ukpong

No fewer than 75 public places, including 20 airports, tertiary institutions and markets nationwide have been earmark for the provision of free internet services.

Addressing State House Correspondents after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Pantami, said that FEC approved two contracts worth N24.20 billion for the project.

Giving a breakdown of his own approvals, Professor Pantami said his two memoranda were related, since they both were focused on providing free internet connectivity services, explaining further that the second one was complementary to a similar approval last year.

“So both memos, you will discover that they will provide broadband to these institutions at the price of approximately N24.20 billion and the project is going to be implemented by the Nigerian Communications Commission.

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“The duration for the project four months minimum and maximum of five months and there is a budgetary provision for that. Also, the fund to sponsor the implementation has been secured by the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

“For universities, it’s because we have learned bitter and better lessons during the COVID-19, so we don’t want to go back to that, we want to ensure that students and staff benefit from unlimited internet. For airports, we know the difficulty when you land without any connectivity. So it will even at least make our airports more lively, if there is at least internet connectivity that is for free.

“Thirdly for market, it’s to support innovation-driven enterprises that are being championed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where we try to give global visibility to our innovators, to our micro, small and medium enterprises, so that their market is not going to be narrowed and restricted only to our local communities”, he explained.

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Ihesiulo Grace

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