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Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia commissioned free Wi-Fi service for 13 public higher education institutions in the country on Friday, to improve teaching, learning and research.
The project, executed at a cost of more than US $ 11 million, was facilitated and implemented by Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) taking advantage of 650 kilometers of its fiber optic network, in collaboration with the National Information Technology Agency (NITA ), Ghana Grid. Company Limited (GRIDCo) and Northern Electricity Distribution Company Limited (NEDCo).
The free Wi-Fi pilot project would also connect the Internet to the district and ECG substations along the fiber optic network.
Beneficiary tertiary institutions include; the University of Ghana, the University of Professional Studies, the University of Cape Coast, the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ).
Others are Ghana Institute of Public Administration and Management, University of Education, Winneba, University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ho, University of Mines and Technology, Tarkwa, Regional Maritime University, Ghana Institute of Languages, National Institute of Film and Television, and Ghana College of Technology.
In addition, frantic arrangements were being made to connect the campuses of the University of Energy and Natural Resources, Sunyani, and the University of Development Studies, Tamale, in the northern sector of the country, and the Public Technical Universities and Colleges of Nursing to Wi -Free Fi. Service.
Commissioning the free Wi-Fi project at GIJ’s new North Dzorwulu campus in Accra, Vice President Bawumia commended the management and staff of ECG and partner institutions for realizing the Government’s vision of connecting the free service of Internet to public universities.
He said that piloting the project in the 13 public tertiary institutions would help the implementing agencies and the government to identify any unforeseen challenges, before rolling out the free Wi-Fi service in 722 public secondary schools (SHS) and 46 colleges of education across the country. country.
Dr. Bawumia announced that 80 percent of the work to connect SHS to free Internet service was completed.
He was convinced that the project would be a game changer in the academic community, allowing students and faculty alike to teach and learn in an environment conducive to developing the country’s human resource base.
The Vice President noted that the “can-do spirit” displayed by the ECG had rekindled public confidence in the ECG’s leadership and would go a long way toward accelerating the country’s socio-economic development.
“In April 2019, I recalled making a request to the Ghana Electricity Company (ECG) and asking if the ECG can leverage its fiber optic infrastructure to support the government’s digitization agenda.
“When I made this request to ECG, ECG said that they will contact me and that with the support of the Minister of Energy John-Peter Amewu, the Board of Directors and the ECG Administration, I must pay tribute to them… I am very proud of them.
“They think outside the box and so they took up the challenge and came back and said, ‘We think we can do it,” Dr. Bawumia said.
“That ‘Can Do Spirit’ is really great and they made this project a reality… There is a new confidence and hope in the leadership of ECG, and we look forward to more opportunities in the future,” added Dr. Bawumia.
The vice president expressed the government’s commitment to developing the country’s human resource base by taking advantage of digital technology so that “we are not left behind in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.”
Mr. John-Peter Amewu, the Minister of Energy, in his speech, praised ECG and its partners for the farmer’s work to make free Wi-Fi a reality.
However, it warned the ECG that while it was making arrangements to market Internet service to other private companies, it should not violate its basic mandate of distributing affordable and reliable electricity to Ghanaians and all energy consumers.
Professor Kwamena Kwansah-Aidoo, rector of GIJ, in his welcoming remarks, expressed his satisfaction for connecting the main journalism institution with the free Internet service.
He was convinced that it would significantly boost academic work in beneficiary institutions and accelerate national development.
