In a continued effort to close the digital divide between rural and urban areas in Nigeria, the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) on Sunday launched a Community Network Centre in Itas Local Government Area, Bauchi State.
The handover ceremony took place at the District Head’s premises in Itas, where the new centre, equipped with state-of-the-art internet facilities, was officially opened to the community as the centre is expected to provide internet access to households within its range.
CITAD’s national coordinator School of Community Networks, Malam Haruna Adamu Hadejia, explained that this is the fourth hub established by CITAD, with support from Hello World.
He highlighted that the northern region of Nigeria has lagged behind in digital connectivity compared to the southern part of the country, making the establishment of the Itas hub 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,” Mal. Haruna said.
Malam Haruna emphasized that rural communities no longer need to rely on traditional methods of information sharing but can now access information digitally.
The Coordinator further appreciated the Itas community for providing the land for the project and assured residents that they would enjoy free internet service for one year.
Also speaking, the Danmasanin Tafidan Katagum who doubles as CITAD’s adviser to Community Champions in Itas LGA, Malam Gambo Idris Itas, praised the project, noting that it would significantly benefit students, researchers, and farmers by providing them with digital resources and connecting the community to the global world.
He 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.
On his part, Al-Muneeb Abdul-Nasir Yusuf, youth leader of Itas LGA, expressed gratitude to CITAD and its partners, stressing that the network hub would help local youths engage in research, software design, and business.
He pledged that the youths in Itas LGA would safeguard the centre intellectually, physically and financially and ultimately contribute to its success.
Speaking on behalf of her peers, Aishatu Auwal Adamu, thanked CITAD for addressing the challenges of poor network and high data costs, which had hindered their academic work.
She promised that students would make the best use of the hub and become good ambassadors for Itas, Bauchi State, and Nigeria at large.
CITAD aims to establish 20 similar centres across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones by the end of the year, with four already completed.
This initiative is part of CITAD’s broader plan to bridge the digital divide in the country.