…Targets October to roll out digital services like telemedicine, others in all LGAs.
By Godspower Eguasa
The Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki has signed a Memorandum of Agreement with Geniserve Limited, to build fiber-optic connections to connect the 18 Local Government Areas of the State by October 2023.
The signing ceremony was held on Monday, February 20, 2023, in Government House, Benin City with top government officials including the Secretary to the State Government, Osarodion Ogie Esq., the Head of Service, Anthony Okungbowa Esq., Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Oluwole Iyamu (SAN), the Managing Director, ICTA, Mr Goodluck Igbinedion, and others present.
“Today we are making history because we have just signed an agreement with our partners to build fiber optic connection across all the 18 local governments of Edo State” Mr Obaseki said, adding that “we believe that by the end of the exercise, we will have in excess of 2000 km of fiber connecting various parts of the State.
“We believe this is very significant, given our strategy and plan to make Edo digital and place Edo as a smart State. That’s where Government can deliver services to its citizens using the state-of-the-art and modern technology infrastructure, we are making available.
Explaining that fibre connectivity has always been part of his long-term vision for the state, Mr Obaseki said the project started soon after he assumed office, with the agreement for MainOne and Facebook to build the digital ring round Benin City the State capital. “Backed by the success of that project, we thought we should extend it to the rest of the State.” He noted.
The governor said the major benefit of the project is that it provides the government and investors the digital framework to carry a wide range of products and services targeted at improving the quality of life for Edo residents. “The benefit of what we are doing today would be tremendous both now in the immediate, and also in the future because what this does for us is to provide us a digital network on which we can lay almost any digital service that we chose to.”
On the consensus and cooperation required to roll out the project across the State, Mr Obaseki noted that an inclusive template has already been developed which provides for youth, traditional, and community leaders to contribute to enlightening the public about the importance of the project to retain support.
He added: “We believe that even before October, we should begin to roll out services on this network. We want to make sure that as many of our schools are connected, we want to make sure that hotspots are created across several communities in the State. We want to make sure that most of our primary healthcare facilities are connected so that we can roll out more services, particularly telemedicine healthcare services to our people in the rural areas.
The Managing Director, Geniserve Limited, Mr Tunde Fanoroti, while delivering his remark, commended the Obaseki government for the foresight and determination to drive Edo into a world-class digital economy, noting his organisation’s readiness to deliver the project within the stipulated time frame.
Fanoroti said: “Geniserve has been in the telecom industry for over 20 years and currently, we are one of the biggest and largest contractors of IHS. I have been in the industry for over 20 years also, if am not mistaken, there is no State that has this infrastructure that you are proposing to have to cut across all the local governments across the State.
“Currently, we are going to be working with all the 18 local governments and including the school of nursing, the Duport refinery, we are also going to be connecting the school of agric.” he added.
On the timeline for completion, Fanoroti said: “By next week you will start seeing our engagements coming in and we are looking at completing this project before the end of the year. By October, we should be able to have live services in all the local governments.”
