Anambra State Government will partner with the Federal Government to expand rural telephony in the state to stem rural-urban drift.
 
The state, which also hinted at continued partnership with other stakeholders, including telecom operators, said digital development and inclusion are at the centre of Governor Chukwuma Soludo’s government.
 
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Anambra State ICT Agency, Chukwuemeka Fred Agbata, disclosed this during a virtual media engagement with journalists.
 
Agbata said rural connectivity remained a major challenge because telecommunications operators were often reluctant to invest heavily in communities where network deployment might not be commercially viable.

He said the state is willing to explore opportunities to leverage Federal Government infrastructure and the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF) to extend connectivity to underserved communities.
 
“We understand what digital inclusion means because we are dealing directly with these communities,” Agbata said.
 
According to him, the objective is to ensure that rural residents are not excluded from the benefits of digital government and the wider digital economy simply because of where they live.
 
Agbata said the effort formed part of the state’s broader digital transformation agenda, which is targeting deeper digitalisation of government services and a more digitally enabled business environment by 2030.
 
He said the second phase of the agency’s digital transformation agenda would focus on e-governance, digital infrastructure, smart government and the use of emerging technologies to drive development.
 
“My core vision is that we would have digitised every single government entity in Anambra State,” he said.
 
The ICT Agency boss said the digital transformation agenda would extend beyond government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to businesses and residents across the state, through Fibre-to-the-Home solutions.