Benue, service providers sign N10.8b MoU on digital infrastructure

The Deputy Governor of Benue State, Samuel Ode, has reiterated the determination of the state to embark on digital infrastructure development project with initial take off cost of N10.8 billion.

He said the project when fully in place will not only tackle insecurity but enhance the revenue of the state, data protection, traffic management, motor traffic management and other areas.
He spoke at Huawei Technologies Center, Central Business District, Abuja during the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) Signing Ceremony for all Service Providers and Benue Digital Infrastructure Company on Tuesday.
Ode said: “The governor of the Benue, Reverend Father Dr. Hyacinth Alia as chairman of the BNSTC Council on May 3 along with other council members including myself as vice chairman, approved the Benue infrastructure development project. Consequently, he nominated me as a chairman of the Implementation Committee.”

He said the signing ceremony of the relationship that is about to commence between Benue State Government, the service providers and other stakeholders is a conscious effort to reposition the state to align with the international best practice in the provision of the digital infrastructure projects for the service of the states and beyond.
“One of the charges that I gave to the committee upon inauguration was that we were going to move away from the normal bureaucratic bottlenecks that usually impede the smooth implementation of programs and projects for governments.
“For those of you in the corporate world and the private sector, your biggest fear in dealing with government and agencies of government is bureaucratic bottlenecks and the second aspect is corruption.
“The Benue government is bold enough to embrace technology because we believe that we have nothing to hide. We want to join the rest of the world and do what is right at all times. We have decided that we will move with the speed of light and walk the talk in doing these jobs we have avoided.

“We have avoided the endless meetings that are always associated with government programs. We have tried to be as businesslike as possible. And that’s why today we are here to join all of you to execute this memorandum of understanding. I think today marks the watershed for the implementation of this very important project.”
The Deputy Governor said the state will abide by all the rules, the laws and the regulations that will govern the relationship.
“We are going to keep our books open and all the implementation strategies at every point in time will be communicated to all stakeholders we intend to do this business as a business and not as another extension of government.
“We’re here to give you this assurance as a form of comfort so that we can all be on the same page. I want to thank our hosts, Huawei, who have given us this platform.”

While fielding questions from newsmen at the occasion on whether the project is going to ensure the empowerment of youths and also create job opportunities, he indicated that a major core of the investment platform is the training of youths in ICT.
He gave the initial projections to include initial take-off of N10.8b while the projected inflow is N158b, gross income is N77.5b and expected expenditure N86.4b
The companies involved included, Benue Digital Infrastructure Company Plc (BDIC), Gamint Corporate Ltd and Unicloud Africa Limited

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