In a bid to strengthen the gains of Information Communications Technology in the country, the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) on Thursday donated a newly constructed Virtual Examination Centre to Enugu State College of Education Technical (ESCET) Enugu.
FirstNews reports that the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Aliyu Pantami conducted the Virtual Commissioning of the Virtual Examination Centre alongside eleven other Digital Economy Projects for a digital Nigeria from Abuja while the Zonal Controller of NCC Enugu Zonal Office, Mr. Ogbonnaya Ugama, unveiled the plaque of the said Virtual Examination Centre ESCET, Enugu.
FirstNews also reports that the Virtual Examination Centre donated to ESCET is one of the special intervention programme by the NCC constructed as a state of the art facility across the Country where online examinations can be conducted to entrench efficiency, effectiveness and curb examination malpractices.
The strategy of this programme according to NCC is to expose students to the use of Information & Communication Technology (ICT) to raise awareness, usage and application for online examinations adding, “JAMB, UTME and other specialised online examinations can be conducted at the Centre.
“WASCE, NECO and GCE examination can be registered and the results of the examinations checked and printed at the Centre. It provides an avenue for communities to train the citizens on ICT.
Speaking with FirstNews in Enugu shortly after the virtual commissioning of the of Virtual Examination Centre and unveiling of the building plaque, the Zonal Controller of NCC Enugu Zonal Office, Mr. Ogbonnaya Ugama, said that the facility will be of great importance to the Enugu State College of Education Technical, Enugu and the good people of Enugu state at large in terms of online Examinations and other e-related activities.
He said, “for sometimes now, since the COVID-19 disease struck at the beginning of the year, a lot of inter-personal interactions has been restricted, both in educational sector, religious activities, politics, in person activities, in-person appearances, face to face appearances, have been strictly restricted because of the need to curb the spread of the virus.
“Now, when you restrict face to face interactions, or in-person appearances, there is no other way to carry out activities other than to employ tools and technologies that will enable you to move on. These tools and technologies have helped in enabling things that keep life going on, politics, education, commerce etc. The information technologies today amplifies the place of Information technologies in what we do at NCC.
“You saw the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Pantami commissioning these projects and using these techniques to see what is going on in the twelve locations spread across the entire space of this country and if you listened to his speech, he said that before now, what would have happened is that he or his representatives along with a large retinue of aides will travel round these locations over a period of at least two weeks because no project will take less than one day travelling to and fro for the commissioning. That is the importance of ICT.”
The Zonal Controller of NCC Enugu Zonal Office, further said that the virtual commissioning of the projects has also explained the place of Information Technology in enabling people to keep carrying on activities when they are not able to do the usual face to face or in person activities.
He added that Coronavirus has also helped to make the need for ICT much more evident in our daily activities noting that before now the NCC alongside the Ministry of Communications particularly under the current Minister of Communications and Digital Economy had recognized the place of ICT in enhancing efficiency, in reducing cost, and improving overall effectiveness.
Ugama maintained that it is the ICT business that the NCC has been in for a long time adding, “when the current Minister, Dr. Isa Aliyu Pantami took over, one of the steps he took was to rename the Ministry and added digital economy to lay emphasis on the fact that information technology plays an increasing role on the way people live and work.
“You don’t just use ICT to talk, you use it to also do your business. So we have taken steps long before this Coronavirus to empower people with the tools necessary, with the equipment necessary and with the technology necessary to take advantage of these roles; as well as the skills they need to take advantage of the ICT to gain from the efficiencies they have to bear on the way the live and work.
“It is just a mere co-incidence that this Covid-19 came up and made it a very obvious reality. Imagine, the amount of money, time and energy saved using the ICT to carryout virtual commissioning of about 12 facilities across the country on the same day. So these are the things ICTs can bring to bear on how we live and work. And we are in the business of trying to empower people with the tools and skills necessary to take over the era and take advantage of it. Because if you don’t have those things, you will be in a position of disadvantage when compared with nations that have those things.”
He said that considering the immense role the facility will serve, the NCC hopes that the college will do everything possible to ensure effective maintenance of the Virtual Examination Centre.
The elated Provost of Enugu State College of Education Technical (ESCET), Dr. Osondu Eze, who could not hide his feelings of appreciation, thanked the Ministry of Communications and the Nigeria Communications Commission for finding the college worthy of citing the all important ICT facility.
He said that the facility will serve a great deal for the college in terms of e- learning and other online examinations.
Eze however, said that like Oliver Twist, the college will need some more interventions from the Ministry and NCC adding, “Please sir, we will need NCC to factor capacity building programmes for our Staff on ICT matters. I will be pleased if the NCC helps us to attract more ICT projects that will match the large population of our school and also considering our location which is at the centre of the capital of Enugu as many people will find it easy to access this facility.”
“We are making moves to invite JAMB and other examination bodies to be using the facility as one of their CBT examination centres.
FirstNews report that the facilities at the Virtual Examination Center consists of the provision of a building with staff offices and a hall with that comprising Two Hundred and Fifty (250) desktop computers, Generator, Bore hole, Air conditioners, VSAT dish and Local Area Networks (LAN), Server, one-year bandwidth subscription for internet access, server rooms, printers, scanners all to serve minimum of 250 students at the same time.
