Oyetola, who was represented by Olufemi Oloruntola, his permanent secretary, made the call during his opening address at Abuja at a stakeholders’ consultative workshop on national blue economy strategy organized by the African Union for Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resources with funding from the Kingdom of Norway.

The minister noted that investment in research would pave the way for a more prosperous and sustainable future.

He therefore called for a continuous investment in research, innovation and technology to tackle climate change in the country.

The minister warned that marine resource over exploitation, habitat destruction, pollution, and climate change imperil ocean ecosystem health and resilience.

The Osun State former governor added that addressing the challenges required concerted efforts to promote responsible resource management, mitigate environmental impacts, and build resilience to climate change.

“This will help to build the potential to drive inclusive growth, create employment opportunities, and alleviate poverty, particularly in coastal and island communities.

“When we choose to harness the vast potential of our oceans sustainably, we can unlock new sources of economic value, such as fisheries, aquaculture, marine tourism, renewable energy, and biotechnology,” Oyetola said.

Also, speaking at the event, Babatunde Sule, the director of Maritime Services at the Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, emphasised the collective need to address climate change.

Sule stressed the importance of prioritising prevention to mitigate marine environment disasters and save lives.

The project is part of government’s efforts to give concrete expression to the underlining principles and fundamental philosophy of the emergent digital culture in Nigeria, particularly Item No. 2 of the eight pillars of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) 2020-2030.

Governor Adegboyega Oyetola of Osun State, is also expected at the event as a Special Guest of Honour.

According to a statement signed by Dr. Ikechukwu Adinde, director, Public Affairs at the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC), the Digital Nigeria Centre, hitherto known as School Knowledge Centre (SNC), targets students and youths for skills acquisition in order to increase Information and Communication Technology (ICT) literacy among school teachers and students; provide a platform for accessing online educational resources; equip students with ICT skills; facilitate ICT adoption in teaching and learning; and increase pass rate in mathematics, English language and other science subjects.

This project, the first to be commissioned in Osun State since the modification of the project as DNC, is located at the Ijesa Muslim Grammar School, Ilesa.

The four components of the Digital Nigeria Centre include ICT Tool component (made up of 40 desktop computers with embedded operating systems, server, printer, remote-controlled projector, high resolution scanner, and e-learning software). Another component is the Power structure, consisting of an inverter that comes with its charger, solar panels, batteries and automatic changeover.

There is also a Connectivity component, made up of routers, switches, firewall for network protection, modem, fibre/microwave radio or VSAT and bandwidth for internet connectivity. Finally, there is a non-ICT component constitutive of the furniture, cabinet, cooling systems, and allied appliances.

The DNC is a project of the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF), an arm of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), established under the Nigerian Communications Act (NCA) 2003 with the overarching objective to carry out the Commission’s statutory mandate of expanding the frontiers of universal access and universal service by ensuring service provision to unserved and under-served areas of the Nigerian economy.

Therefore, as mandated by NCA 2003, the USPF promotes the widespread availability and usage of network and application services throughout Nigeria by encouraging the installation of network facilities and the provision of network services and applications services to institutions, particularly in unserved and underserved areas and for underserved groups within the community.

Since inception in 2006, the USPF under NCC supervision and directive of the Minister, has implemented series of programmes and projects that promote ICT inclusion and adoption to mainstream accessibility to communication services for citizens and position Nigeria for global competitiveness in the emergent digital culture.