Information centres in Ashanti receive equipment

Community Information Centres in eight Ashanti Districts, have taken delivery of 180 desktop computers and accessories to aid the promotion of computer literacy.

Adansi North, Afigya-Kwabre, Amansie West, Atwima-Nwabiagya, Kwabre East, Sekyere Central, Sekyere South and the Offinso Municipality, benefitted.

Afigya-Kwabre received 40 of the computers with each of the remaining districts also receiving 20.

These were a donation from the Ministry of Communication and on hand to present them at a ceremony in Kumasi was the Minister, Dr Edward Omane Boamah.

He announced plans by government to build a 780-kilometre optic fibre to beef up the bandwidth capacity of the country to provide high speed internet services.

The €37 million project would be implemented with support from development partners.

He said a Computer Incidence Response Team would also be established to deal with cyber crimes and cable thefts, which tend to disrupt internet services.

The Minister underlined the government’s determination to invest in Information Communication Technology (ICT) to enable the nation to become competitive in the global economy.

In line with this, he said, 400, 000 laptops would be distributed to schools and students within the next four years.

Between 2009-2012, an estimated number of 160,000 laptops were given out to some students and schools across the country.

He appealed to the beneficiary districts to take good care of the computers.

Mr Eric Opoku, Ashanti Regional Minister, said the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) intends to construct a Press Centre to facilitate the work of journalists and invited the Ministry and corporate bodies to support the initiative.

Source: GNA