Ghana’s Minister of Communications, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful has said her country would in no time become the most preferred Information Technology (IT) destination hub for West Africa.
Minister Owusu-Ekuful stated this in an interview with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) at the World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC-17) in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Discussing her country’s vision for Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and their role in Ghana’s development, Owusu-Ekuful said the journey towards achieving the feat has been immense.
“It’s been immense. Every step of the way. From health, to e-commerce, digital financial services to, you name it, the way we live and work — in reducing corruption, waste in our systems, improving efficiencies in the public sector.
“We have used ICTs and are scaling up our application of technology in all sectors of the economy to drive growth, job creation, entrepreneurship, women’s empowerment, you name it!” said Minister Owusu-Ekuful.
Minister Owusu-Ekuful believes that the cross-cutting nature makes ICT an indispensable tool for development.
“We are looking forward to the application of ICT in all sectors of our economy. We want Ghana to be a hub, the IT hub for West Africa and the sub region.
“We want to take the leadership in our infrastructure, driving down the cost of data, to enable young people to explore more possibilities, and that’s how were positioning ourselves.
“We are really having to deal with the capacities of our people to use these new tools… and the high cost of the Internet is also a major disincentive.
“We also have to think about rural penetration more for the unserved and underserved areas,” said the Minister.