Ghana’s knowledge economy depends on ICT led economy- Minister

Ghana’s success in the emerging knowledge economy would largely depend on how well the country adopts and adapts to a comprehensive and integrated Information Communication Technology (ICT) led economy.

Mr Haruna Iddrisu, Minister of Communications, who said this, added that, recognizing the opportunities offered by ICT, Government had consistently pursued a policy to make ICT a driver of national development through the ICT “for Acceleration Development policy process.”

The Minister made the observation during the launch of “Ghana Dot Com’s Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers” accredited registrar service of domain name and clouding arching, including Sahara.Net, Ncs-Cloud.Net and e-Shika.Net, in Accra on Wednesday.

Ghana Dot Com limited is a descendant company of Network Computer systems established in 1998, to support companies and organizations to operate more efficiently in an increasingly competitive environment.

The e-Shika.net, is a payment processor that interconnects financial services in Ghana to the global payment services and online.

The sahara.net is a platform that allows organisations and individuals to register domain names and host them as websites and develop their content and applications.

The Ncs-Cloud.net is also a cloud application, which allows users to preserve vital information and all type of documents electronically for subsequent access with proper authorization.

Mr Haruna called on stakeholders to address the issue of developing locally relevant content and applications, since it could contribute to national development.

Professor Nii Quaynor, Chairman of Ghana Dot Com, said the country’s internet penetration, which fell below Africa’s average for some time now, had not recovered since.

“Out of this destruction emerged a formidable internet content, applications and software company, Ghana Dot Com,” he noted.

Prof. Quaynor said the company had re-kindled the internet software industry in the country, and arranged a winning set of technologies, investors and partners to serve the African region.

Mr. Kwame Peprah, the former Minister of Finance, advocated more investment in the ICT sector to win the emerging unemployment situation in the country.

He appealed to the youth to take advantage of the opportunities in the sector to empower themselves for the growth and development of the economy.**