Bridging Digital Gap: CITAD Launches Network Hub In Northwest

The Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) officially launched and handed over a Community Network Centre in the Northwest to residents of Itas local government area in Bauchi State,
In a statement to newsmen in Kano yesterday, the handover ceremony took place at the district head’s premises in Itas, where the new center, equipped with state-of the-art internet facilities, was officially opened to the community. The centre is expected to provide internet access to households within its range. The statement issued by Haruna Adamu Hadejia, CITAD’s national coordinator for the school for community networks, explained that this is the fourth hub established by CITAD with support from Hello World.

He highlighted that CITAD’s goal is to establish 20 similar centers across all six geo-political zones of Nigeria to address the digital gap.

He said the northern region of Nigeria has lagged behind in digital connectivity compared to the southern part of the country thereby making the establishment of the Itas hub in the northwest region an important step toward addressing this imbalance.

“The hub is designed to facilitate e-learning, e-commerce, and other digital needs, offering under-connected communities like Itas the opportunity to meet their digital demands,” Haruna said.

In his address, a representative of the Itas community Garba Idris Itas revealed that after the initial free year of service, the community plans to implement a cost-sharing initiative to renew the internet subscription at an affordable rate.

“For instance, we will charge N50 for internet access, if N100 is charged by business centres in the city, allowing us to cover 52% of the subscription cost while CITAD covers the remaining 48%,” he explained.

Garba also called on the community to ensure the security and sustainability of the centre for long-term use. Reports said, this initiative is part of CITAD’s broader plan to bridge the digital divide in the country.