The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says its first Digital Industrial Park (DIP) located in Kano State is to be completed by January next year.

The telecoms regulator says the DIPs being built across Nigeria’s six geo-political zones are to provide Innovation Labs and Digital Fabrication Laboratories (Fablabs) for digital innovators and entrepreneurs to use in turning their ideas into products and prototypes, while also providing broadband services and access to constant power supply.

Professor Umar Danbatta, NCC Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive “paid an inspection visit to the site of the ongoing construction of the project in Kano State where he got an unequivocal commitment from the contractors that the project will be completed by January 2023,” the agency announced in a statement.

The inspection of the IDP, NCC says, was part of Danbatta’s routine visits to ensure close monitoring and effective supervision of important projects that will have great impacts on Nigeria’s socio-economic development.

Reasons for NCC Digital Parks

“This is a project that Nigerians are eagerly waiting to be completed. The Federal Government and the State government are following it with keen interest, and at NCC, our responsibility is to ensure that there’s no further delay in delivery as we have been doing everything possible to ensure that we have the project commissioned in the next few months,” Danbatta says.

“While I promise you that we will give you all the support you need,” the NCC EVC says, “I also demand that progress report to be sent to me fortnightly over the two months period in order to ensure effective monitoring by us at NCC.”

Danbatta further commended the Kano State Governor for providing land at a prime location in Kano for the project, which he said is an indication of the value the government attaches to the project.

This is not the first time the NCC boss would pay a visit to the construction site of the project located at Audu Bako Secretariat in the ancient city, which doubles as the commercial nerve centre of northern Nigeria, according to NCC.

His latest visit was sequel to a similar visit to the construction site in July 2022 and other visits he had made much earlier, essentially to assess the level of work that has been done so far to ensure that the project is delivered within the set deadline.

During the July 2022 visit to the construction site, Danbatta said the project was conceived to support the Federal Government’s digital drive by facilitating the availability and accessibility of digital services across the country, promoting their adoption and usage across all sectors; as well as providing youth employment in the country.

“The idea of putting these two things (i.e., skill acquisition and innovation) at the forefront of this very important initiative is to produce youths that can be self-reliant, generate employment for themselves and other Nigerians,” he said noting that no part of the country would be left out in benefitting from the initiative.

“The project,” according to him, “is another move to boost youth digital skills acquisition, promote innovations, provide jobs for the teeming Nigerian youth and ultimately support the overall digital economy agenda of the Federal Government.”