Residents, visitors and investors in Ekiti State will in the next few weeks begin to enjoy uninterrupted broadband services as the State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi on Tuesday kicked off the first phase of the Optical Fibre Cable laying project for Ado Ekiti, the state capital.

Speaking shortly after kick-starting the laying of the fibre optic cable at the Fajuyi Park, Governor Fayemi said his campaign promise to transform the State to a digital hub was not a gimmick but a step to make the state go digital thereby making it possible for it to join the world of information technology super highway and make the state the number one choice for people to live, work and play.

When completed, Ado-Ekiti would be the fourth city after Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt to have the digital facility.

Dr. Fayemi who added that the project is a major step towards transforming Ekiti State into the “Bangalore of Africa” stated that the step would move the state from being just a civil service state where government is the main industry and federal allocation is the life-blood of its economy.

He stressed that the State Government needed to diversify, transform its economy and convert its renowned intellectual capital to prosperity for the people hence the inauguration of a steering committee on Ekiti Knowledge Zone.

The Governor while reiterating the commitment of his administration to converting the intellectual capacity of the state for accelerated development asserted that the broadband services provide the possibility of stimulating the growth of existing businesses and catalyzing the establishment of new ones.

“In spite of our State’s limited resources and competing priorities, we have taken this bold step in embracing the future. We have moved in the direction of greater efficiency and effectiveness in our daily lives and work. This is an investment in the future. It is the bridge that would connect our today with the enablement to achieve our vision of a preferred tomorrow. See the Ekiti of our dreams with your mind’s eye, believe it is achievable and passionately embrace a future filled with immense opportunities made possible by a Digital Ekiti”, he said.

Dr. Fayemi stated that first phase of the project will cover about 8 km from the state government data centre to Tanterlizers, Fajuyi park, Bank road, State secretariat, GRA, and Christ School road and would be completed in the next 8 weeks.

According to the Governor, the fibre optic cable would cover high speed internet access to home and offices at an affordable price, wi-fi hotspot at Fajuyi park, video conferencing, safe city security cameras, cable TV and e-education among others.

In his remarks, the Special Adviser on Infrastructure, Mr Kayode Jegede said the State Government believed in the intelligence of Ekiti people hence the decision not to bring a foreign company to execute the project.

Jegede added that the project would be done on a Public Private Partnership basis.

Also speaking the Managing Director of the IpnX Nigeria Limited, the company handling the project, Mr Ejovi Aror said Ado Ekiti would be the fourth city in Nigeria to have the fibre optic technology; saying that the vision of the state envisaging the leveraging of Information and Communication technologies to improve the socio-economic status of the state is commendable.

 Aror added that Ipnx is committed to laying a foundation on which a wide range of IT applications can be deployed in every aspect of a digital economy from e-commence, e-government, and e-healthcare among others.