Nahimah Ajikanle Nurudeen
The Africa Information & Communication Technologies Alliance (AfICTA) 2016 summit will focus on how best the Internet of Things (IoT) phenomenon will help advance and sustain continental’s development in the areas of health service delivery, e-government, e-commerce, job creation and overall improvement in the standard of living of the people.
The event which is the 4th in its series is slated for next week at Windhoek, Namibia is part of AfICTA’s strategies to realize its vision of fulfilling the promise of the digital age for everyone in Africa.
AfICTA is a concerned private sector led alliance of ICT Associations, Multi-national Corporations, Companies, Organizations and individuals in the ICT sector in Africa.
The AFICTA Chairman, Dr. Jimson Olufuye in press release made available to Authentic Platform News Nigeria in Lagos said the summit will attract high level panels of African ICT Ministers, regulators, development specialists and decision makers who will provide insights and share perspectives on making strategies and policies work for the future of Africa.
According to him, businesses at the summit will share award winning solutions for e-health, e-government and e-payment.
He said experts will also will be on ground to provide techniques for cybersecurity assurance and investors.
Olufuye President of Information Technology Association of Nigeria (ITAN) explained that the summit will hold under the auspices of the ICT Professionals’ Association of Namibia (ICT-PAN) and the Ministry of ICT, Namibia with the theme, ‘Internet of Things for Sustainable Development’.
He said, “Undoubtedly one of the greatest inventions of man, the Internet has continued to shape the way mankind lives, works and plays.
“With over 3 billion people already connected in the world and more than 300million connected in Africa; and the existence of technological structures, protocols and unique numbers (IPv6) to support its continuous evolution; and given the global community resolve to sustain development, AfICTA at its 4th Summit will be focusing on how the Internet of Things (IoT) phenomenon will help advance and sustain Africa’s development.”
He asked that with a more connected Africa, are we closer to surpassing the 15% intra-African trade, taking 60% of our people out of poverty, building a critical mass of skilled labour for tomorrow’s prosperity, are we able to grapple with the attendant cybersecurity, political, social and cultural challenges that IoT would engender.”
He listed confirmed speakers for the summit to include Adrian Schofield, Vice Chair, AfICTA, Abdul-Hakeem Ajijola, Executive Chairman, Consultancy Support Services Ltd., a Cyber Security & Information Communication Technology (ICT) Consultancy Firm in Abuja, David Chang, Secretary-General ASOCIO, Marilyn Cade, President of ICT Strategies, mCADE LLC, USA, Andrew Mack, Principal,AMGlobal Consulting, USA, Arinola Akinyemi, Chief Executive officer, Omar Ventures Limited and DigiSphere Investment Limited , among others.
