The President, His Excellency John Agyekum Kuffour on 9th September, 2008 commissioned the John Agyekum Kufuor - Catholioc Information Technology Institute at Nkwantakese.

The Institute will serve as a Centre of Excellence for training in ICT for the Northern Sector.

Also present at the launch were Dr. Benjamin Aggrey Ntim, the Minister of Communications, Hon. Kan Dapaah, MP for the area and His Excellency, the Chinese Ambassador to Ghana.

Below are excerpts of the speech by his excellency, President Kufuor:

“Government recognizes that much as ICTs can advance socio-economic development, the benefits of that development may not necessarily spread to all sections of the society. There is therefore a need for specific efforts to be made in terms of special initiatives aimed at ensuring and enhancing the possible distributive effects of the developmental impacts of the technologies to the community at large.

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,
The Nkwantakese CIC is one of 40 CICs that are presently fully operational. Indeed, 90 centres have been built so far while others are in various stages of construction.

Specifically, this centre has been designed to the level of an Institute to cater for the basic ICT training for Teachers and members of the Security Services especially those in the Ghana Police Service within the middle belt of the country.

It also provides opportunity for the District Assemblies in the area to upgrade ICT skills of Teachers under the new educational reform to support the pupils to acquire ICT skills right from the basic school level.

Ladies and Gentlemen,
This particular Centre is the biggest and largest in the country and with a capacity for hundred computers. Presently it is equipped with 50 computers. I must at this juncture, pause and give credit to the former Minister of Communications, Hon. Albert Kan-Dapaah, who appreciated the unique opportunity for this CIC at Nkwantakese.

His vision was to replicate the objectives of a Centre of Excellence similar to the Kofi-Annan ICT Centre in Accra so as to serve the local ICT training needs for the Middle Belt and the Northern Sector is on course and with the completion of this project, the Ministry will endeavour to develop a similar centre with the capacity to provide the Integrated ICT service next year.

In establishing this facility, the Ministry of Communications is entrusting responsibility for its management and supervision to a Committee of stakeholders in the District. It is a facility to be owned and used by the community. The Ministry will however continue to monitor the use of the facility to meet the objectives of Government and also provide technical backstopping that will be required from time to time. The District Assemblies are being urged to provide adequate support to the CICs, as the facilities complement the Ghana’s Local Government improvement policy.

In this regard, I am calling on the management team to be drawn from the CIC stakeholders, i.e. the District Assembly, the Catholic Diocese, the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Women and Children, Ministry of Information and National Orientation, NGOs and people of Nkwantakese to work harmoniously to ensure the effective use of this centre.

I want to end my speech my thanking all the stakeholders who as partners, have assisted the Ministry to promote the information society in Ghana. The goal to make Ghana a continental hub for ICT activities is very much on course and with the provision of broadband infrastructure nationwide, it will soon be possible to undertake Business Process Outsourcing activities in the communities. With the sitting capacity we have at the Nkwantakese CIC, the potential for wealth generation is enormous.

Thank You.”

Video: President’s Speech

Video: Minister of Communication’s Speech

Video: Hon. Kan Dapaah’s Speech

Video: His Excellency, the Chinese Ambassador to Ghana’s Speech