Ghana needs to undergo ICT revolution - Minister

Agogo (Ash), Nov. 13, GNA - Mr Albert Kan-Dapaah, Minister of Communication and Technology, has called for a revolution in the Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) sector to catapult the country's socio-economic development to an appreciable height.

He said technological advancement in these modern times determined a country's economic status, pointing out that, the country cannot come out of poverty if the numerous natural resources cannot be utilised to its advantage.

It was therefore, high time that the country took a cue from the success stories of Japan and Malaysia on ICT education, the Minister said.

Mr Kan-Dapaah was inaugurating the Spacefon Cell Site at Agogo in the Asante-Akim North District on Friday.

The opening of the site at Agogo is to facilitate the easy subscription to spacefon by the residents of Agogo and its environs to promote their businesses.

The Communications Minister said, for instance, even though Japan was endowed with very little natural resources, it is now a super power due to her technological advancement and said there was therefore the need for ICT to be made the basis of education at all levels of the education system.

He commended Scancom Ghana Limited, operators of spacefon for playing the role of a good corporate citizen in the areas of education and called on other corporate bodies to complement government's efforts at making the Communications Ministry a vibrant one.

He mentioned Scancom's grant of scholarship to 200 students to further their education at the secondary and tertiary levels and the sponsoring of the construction of a primary school at Akosombo and a vocational institute at Damongo in the Northern Region at the cost of about 500 million cedis.

Mr Fawaz Najjar, Ashanti Regional Production Manager of Scancom Ghana Limited, disclosed that close to one million people in the country now subscribe to Spacefon.

He said his company recently introduced a new brand of spacefon that could access the Internet and be used for E-mail purpose. Nana Akuoko Sarpong, Omanhene of Agogo, commended Scancom for ensuring a wider coverage of its services and said the new site will help enhance the socio-economic activities in the area.