How best the Internet of Things (IoT) phenomenon will help advance and sustain Africa’s development in the areas of health service delivery, e-government, e-commerce, job creation and overall improvement in the standard of living of the people will take center stage at the 2016 4th AfICTA Summit slated for next week in Windhoek, Namibia.
This event is part of AfICTA’s strategies to realize its vision of fulfilling the promise of the digital age for everyone in Africa.
Africa Information & Communication Technologies Alliance (AfICTA) is a concerned private sector led alliance of ICT Associations, Multi-national Corporations, Companies, Organizations and individuals in the ICT sector in Africa.
The AFICTA Chairman, Dr. Jimson Olufuye in a press conference at the weekend in Lagos to unfold activities for the summit said that at the summit, high level panels of African ICT Ministers, regulators, development specialists and decision makers will provide insights and share perspectives on making strategies and policies work for the future of Africa.
According to him, businesses at the summit will share award winning solutions for e-health, e-government and e-payment. Experts will provide techniques for cybersecurity assurance and investors will find ingenious opportunities for investment and more.
To be held under the auspices of the ICT Professionals’ Association of Namibia (ICT-PAN) and the Ministry of ICT, Namibia, the theme of the Summit, he said is “Internet of Things for Sustainable Development”.
“Undoubtedly one of the greatest inventions of man, the Internet has continued to shape the way mankind lives, works and plays.
“With over 3 billion people already connected in the world and more than 300million connected in Africa; and the existence of technological structures, protocols and unique numbers (IPv6) to support its continuous evolution; and given the global community resolve to sustain development, AfICTA at its 4th Summit will be focusing on how the Internet of Things (IoT) phenomenon will help advance and sustain Africa’s development” he explained.
With a more connected Africa, are we closer to surpassing the 15% intra-African trade, taking 60% of our people out of poverty, building a critical mass of skilled labour for tomorrow’s prosperity, .are we able to grapple with the attendant cybersecurity, political, social and cultural challenges that IoT would engender” Olufuye who was one time President of Information Technology Association of Nigeria, ITAN, asked.
Speakers lined for the summit will include Adrian Schofield, Vice-Chair, Vice Chair, AfICTA, Abdul-Hakeem Ajijola, Executive Chairman, Consultancy Support Services Ltd., a Cyber Security & Information Communication Technology (ICT) Consultancy Firm in Abuja, David Chang, Secretary-General ASOCIO, Marilyn Cade, President of ICT Strategies, mCADE LLC, USA, Andrew Mack, Principal, AMGlobal Consulting, USA, Arinola Akinyemi, Chief Executive officer, Omar Ventures Limited and DigiSphere Investment Limited , among others.
