The National Information Technology Agency
(NITA), is launching a National Information Communication Technology (ICT) Week
in Accra. The event which will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday 8th
– 9th August 2023 at UPSA’s Kofi Ohene Konadu Auditorium, is a
week-long commemorative activity to celebrate the significance, relevance and
contributions of ICT to national development.
Speaking
ahead of the launch, the Director General of NITA, Mr. Richard Okyere-Fosu
hinted that the National ICT Week will become an annual event to be celebrated
in August every year. The celebrations he said will involve various activities
to create awareness of NITA’s mandate and educate participants spanning across
the entire spectrum of ICT.
Mr.
Okyere-Fosu said “ICT is ubiquitous – it
is virtually the foundation on which almost every system and activities are
established. Take ICT out of every system and you will have nothing working or
existing. Having realized this, the Government of Ghana adopted the ICT for
Accelerated Development (ICT4AD) policy in 2003 which was necessary to give us
the framework to lay the foundations for our takeoff. The Ghana Digital Economy Policy (GDEP) which will
soon replace the ICT4AD will pivot us to advance the game and discussions along
the lines of achieving full optimization of the benefits of ICT in a Digital
Economy”, the Director General concluded.
At
the same forum, NITA will assist in the launch of The World Technology Forum.
The World Technology Forum is the brainchild of the Chartered Institute of
Computing and Information Technology (CICIT) whose vision is to get the world
to converge in Ghana annually to discuss global technology issues and
advancement.
NITA’s
endorsement of the World Technology Forum is in line with its mandate as the
Regulator of ICT in Ghana. It is also in line with its objectives and quest to
collaborate with and supervise the establishment and success of organizations
and initiatives within the ICT ecosystem of Ghana.
The
special guest of honour will be the Hon. Minister of Communications and
Digitalisation, Mrs. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful. In attendance will be other ministers
of state, MPs, Chief Directors, Board Members of NITA, IT heads of government
agencies, private sector ICT-based associations, IT professionals, academia,
technology institutions and the general public.
The
launch is in collaboration with The World Technology Forum, and in partnership
with Smart Infraco, E Solutions, MTN and MESTI.