The Speaker of Ghana’s Parliament, Rt. Hon. Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, has called for the implementation of the regulations on mobile roaming services within the ECOWAS sub-region in order to accelerate regional development.
In his view, regional development can only be achieved by ensuring that the ECOWAS regulation which was adopted by the Council of Ministers on the 16th of December 2017 is implemented.
The Regulation on Roaming of Public Mobile Communications Networks in the sub-region is supposed to ensure affordability, quality and also enable the efficient use of Information Communication Technology tools.
“According to the World Bank report 2018, there are over 320 million mobile phone subscribers in the sub-region. However, the uptake of mobile data in the sub-region remains a serious challenge. It is a fact that most of the ECOWAS nationals who travel to other countries in the sub-region have to pay higher premiums on mobile usage, while others have to change their sim cards to have access to the network available in their new destination,” he said.
The Speaker made the call in his opening remarks at the Delocalized Committee Meeting of the ECOWAS Parliament, which is currently ongoing at Winneba in the Central Region.
Invited as the Special guest of honour, the Rt. Hon. Speaker Alban Sumana Bagbin joined the Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament, Dr. Sidie Mohammed Tunis to officially open the meeting which is scheduled to take place from Tuesday, July 27 to Friday, July 30, 2021.
The Delocalized Meeting of the Joint Committee on: Political Affairs, security and APRM/Legal Affairs and Human Rights/Telecommunications and Information Technology, is under the theme: “The Role of Telecommunications and Information Technology (TIT) in Achieving Regional Development, Peace, Security and Human Rights.”
The Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament, Dr. Sidie Mohammed Tunis on his part, reemphasized the role of Telecommunication and Information Technology in transforming societies and fueling the growth of the global economy. He urged the Members of the Joint Committees to use the opportunity to find Telecommunications and Information Technology solutions to the challenges facing the various countries in the sub-region.
He said, “a lot of challenges bedeviling our region already have their solutions in ICTs. Therefore, the deliberations of Members of the Joint Committee over the next few days should lead to sound recommendations for our community in this regard.
“As the region is currently being affected by waves of violent extremism and terrorism, humanitarian crisis and global pandemics, Members must consider the merits of the latest technological advancements, innovations and intelligence as viable tools to curb insecurity.”
While he stressed that the sub-regional community still have so much to do in optimizing the gains of ICT since the opportunities remain largely untapped, he recognized the strides which have been made by the Government of the host country, Ghana in bringing the country into the global future of ICT.
According to Dr. Tunis, the choice of Ghana for this delocalized joint committee meeting should not come as a surprise as Ghana continues to accelerate developmental policies in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector which have impacted positively on the overall growth of the Ghanaian economy.
He said, “Today, Ghana has become a major ICT hub in West Africa. The decision by Tech companies to situate their continental headquarters in Ghana, does not only demonstrate the effort of the Government in bringing the country into the global future, but also, reveals the conducive business environment in Ghana that is attracting these ICT giants.”
Source: Clement Akoloh||parliamentnews360.com
