Frank Nweke Jr., the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in Enugu State, has highlighted the need for infrastructural development in the quest to establish Enugu as a technology and innovation destination.
He shared this thought while engaging with members of the Tech Community and young tech enthusiasts at CodeJam, a competitive programming event organized by the Google Developers Group, Enugu chapter.
Nweke celebrated the growing culture of tech hubs and connected communities amongst young people in the State. He recalled how he initiated and supervised the implementation of a countrywide Internet access programme through the establishment of community communication centres while serving as the Minister of Information, noting that the penetration of ICT in both urban and rural areas has become key to development across board.
“What we see here is sheer determination and foresight of these young visionaries. Building communities of thinkers and innovators who challenge themselves to provide solutions through technology is pivotal to addressing many of the local problems we face in the State. This is something we will prioritize as a government because in addition to inspiring our people to dream, we want to build with them”
While addressing the challenges shared by the tech leaders at the event, he emphasized that the role of the government is to make the necessary infrastructure as power and security available for ease of operation and to attract investors.
“We have to make technology attractive for our people, for private companies and for investors. Our goal is to drive broadband penetration through public-private partnerships and create a favourable investment environment to attract private companies.”
Nweke congratulated the participants and presented the winner of the coding challenge with a prize.
The APGA governorship hopeful has been a constant supporter of CodeJam, a yearly competitive programming event organised by the Toochi Gabriel led Google Developers Group in Enugu.
Photos from the event:
