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Good morning, distinguished guests, colleagues, and participants,

It is with great pleasure and enthusiasm that I welcome you to this pivotal workshop focused on Adoption, Utilization, and Sustainability of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in the rural, unserved and underserved areas of the Country. Today, we embark on a journey that is not just about implementing new technologies or practices, but about fostering a mindset of innovation and responsibility that will shape the future of our teeming youths.

The Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF) as the agency of the Federal Government of Nigeria is responsible for promoting greater social equity and inclusion for the people of Nigeria; contribute to national economic, social, and cultural development of Nigeria in the rural, unserved and underserved areas in Nigeria. The achievement of this mandate substantially contributes to the Mr. President’s Eight Priority Areas, Hon. Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy Strategic Blueprint and the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission’s Strategic Focus Areas.

In achieving our vision of “Equitable and Sustainable ICT Access for All”, i.e. widespread availability of ICT infrastructure and services, we made tremendous efforts to address the three aspects of Universal Service Provision (Availability, Accessibility and Affordability) through programmes that extend ICT infrastructures to unserved and underserved areas and groups. These Programmes and Projects include Accelerated Mobile Phone Expansion Programme (AMPEP), Backbone Transmission Infrastructure (BTRAIN), Rural Broadband Initiative (RUBI), Digital Nigeria Centre (DNC), Community Resource Centre (CRC), E-Library, E-Health, E-Accessibility, Universities Inter-Campus Connectivity (UnICC) amongst others.

The programmes implemented by the USPF contributes to reduction in the Country’s Digital Poverty status. Digital Poverty is the lack of means with which to access ICTs, lack of skills to use ICTs and inadequate information about the usefulness of ICTs.

As part of efforts to achieve reduction in Digital Poverty, the ICT Utilization and Sustainability Project has been designed to demonstrate the opportunities and strategies for communities, Local entrepreneurs, institutions including cooperatives, to share in the gains and benefits of an ICT- enabled society through the experiences of various Community ICT Centre models around the world.

The two-day workshop which is the fourth edition since inception of this initiative, will be made up of various sessions that will provide valuable lessons, as well as future directions for the USPF -supported Community Resource Centre (CRC) and Digital Nigeria Centres (DNC) programme in furtherance of the development targets of the Government.

The workshop for the Northern Zone was held on July 1 – 2, 2024 in Kano State and it was a huge success considering the large number of participants and their meaningful and intelligent suggestions towards sustaining the USPF Projects. Nothing less is expected from the one we are having here in Ibadan considering the number and caliber of participants here in attendance.

For the sake of emphasis, we are all aware of the prevailing economic conditions that is plaguing the whole world, Nigeria inclusive. It is therefore important that beneficiaries of our intervention should take the bull by the horn to ensure that projects at their domain are well protected, used for the intended purpose and sustained for as long as possible.

The intention of USPF is to continue to pursue our mandate to make ICTs available, accessible and affordable in the rural, unserved and underserved areas in Nigeria. On this note, I welcome you all to this workshop and I am confident that your time here will contribute to achieving the objectives of the CRC and DNC programme in a sustainable manner.

Thank you.

The Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF) organized Changemaker Challenge 2023 is an annual Hackathon event also known as codefest to encourage startups and investors create applications and services to deepen Information Communication Technology (ICT) solutions in the country particularly in the rural, unserved and under-served areas.

The competition held in the Northern (Sokoto State) and Southern (Lagos State) regions of Nigeria and was facilitated by Skaldon International Limited and Greycube Dynamics Limited respectively. The Hackathon brought together aspiring Nigerian youths drawn from different states within the two (2) regions fully prepared to set new records in their unique ways, bridging the gap in the digital space. 

The theme for the 5^th edition of the competition was tagged “Think it, Build it and Innovate it – Accelerating socio-economic development through ICT Solutions”.

In his welcome address, the Secretary of the Universal Service Provision Secretariat, Mr. Yomi Arowosafe stated that the Changemaker challenge aims to provide a platform for ICT start-ups to design and develop working prototypes solutions which is capable of deepening ICT penetration in Nigeria, while creating employment for young Nigerians. He implored all participants to produce service/solutions that will lead to further market research, making them co-founders to move their ideas into viable start-ups, attracting investors funds, and further accelerate into a wonderful world of entrepreneurship capable of creating employment to teeming youthful population.

Credible judges were chosen to give objective assessment of initiatives and score pitch presentations based on the following ten (10) Tech Solution Categories: AR/VR, Artificial Intelligence (AI), e-Health, Security, Cloud Computing, Internet Connectivity, Agro Tech, Ed Tech, Fintech amongst others in tandem with the mandate of the Secretariat.

Monetary prizes ranging from N2,500, 000.00 (1st Prize), N1,500,000.00 (2nd Prize) to N1,000, 000.00 (3rd Prize) was won by teams that participated in the competition in the zones as follows:

Northern Region winners

1. Winner: Team Clodocs – Solution – Telemedicine
2. First Runner up: Team Code Wolves – Solution – EdTech
3. Second Runner up: Team Helping Hands- Solution – e-Health

Southern Region Winners

1. Winner: Team Metaverse Medical Simulation -Solution – AV/VR
2. First Runner up: Team Say Innovations -Solution – Agro-Tech
3. Second Runner up: Team Blue Sands Stem Labs – Ed-Tech

Consolation prizes of N150, 000 each were also presented to the remaining teams. The top three (3) winners from the two regions will proceed to the incubation stage and entrepreneurship training as well as have access to investors.

All the teams were considered winners for their innovative ICT solutions and advised to remain focused and pursue their visions. More information on www.uspfchangemaker2023.ng

PHOTO SPEAKS

The Secretary USPF, Yomi Arowosafe, along with his team has visited some Digital Nigeria Centres (formerly known as School Knowledge Centres) in Abuja.

The beneficiaries shared their experience on usage and expressed their appreciation to the USPF on its commitment to increasing ICT literacy/skills amongst students through the facilitation of ICT application in teaching and learning.

The Honorable Minister Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr. 'Bosun Tijani has been accompanied by the Secretary USPF, Yomi Arowosafe on his first official trip as a minister to attend the #G20Summit in New Delhi, India themed “One Earth. One Family. One Future” and other industry related events.

The Secretary USPF participated in a number of key engagements with the Honourable Minister - including meetings with the e-Gov Foundation India and a Digital Economy Dialogue organized by Kola Aina of @theventurespark with industry leaders in Nigeria and Industry leaders in Nigeria and India.