Dr. Ode
Deputy Governor of Benue State and chairman Implementation Committee for the newly established Benue Digital Infrastructure Company Limited (BDICL), His Excellency, Barr. Dr. Sam Ode, mni, on Tuesday, reaffirmed state government’s commitment towards ensuring a conducive business environment with investors and development partners who would want to invest in the state.
Dr. Sam Ode who was accompanied by the Chief of Staff to the Governor, Rt. Hon. Paul Biam, and Commissioner for Communication and Digital Economy, Hon. Kwaghgba Amande, stated this when the Implementation Committee met with the project consortium, led by Africa Data Centres, and the lead financier, The United Bank for Africa (UBA), in Government House Makurdi to fine-tune conversation on the smooth take-off of the Benue ICT Hub.
A press release by Mr. Ior Ikyereve, Deputy Press Secretary, office of the Deputy Governor quoted Dr. Ode as saying: “One of the debilitating factor for ease of doing business is government bureaucracy, and that scares away a lot of investors and partners who will want to come and help develop the place. I want to assures all of us that in Benue State, that factor is totally absent from our engagement”, Barr Ode asserted.
The Deputy Governor who affirmed that the present administration led by His Excellency, Rev. Fr. Dr. Hyacinth Iormem Alia has attracted the highest number of international developers and partners to the state added “the reason is that we know the index of the ease of doing business and we are hundred percent compliant with that particular expectation. So we are going to do everything in a transparent manner, and nothing will be shrouded in secrecy”.
Further speaking to the project partners, the Chairman, Implementation Committee said when the Governor set up the Committee for the project, it was agreed that the project should be kept away from the bureaucracy of government so that it will become attractive to the private sector. “We have reached a high-point in our engagement over this project, and I want to establish that timelines are very important. We don’t want to be bogged down with bureaucracy”, he maintained.
The Deputy Governor also said the Committee had done a lot of due diligence on all the project partners to ensure that whatever the state is going to have at the end of the day, will be the threshold of international best practice, and further said the banking industry is known for due diligence, and therefore tasked the financier to bring same to bear on the implementation of the project.
In his address, the project Consultant and CEO of Gamint Corporate Ltd, Hon. Terwase Gbande explained that the choice of UBA as a competent financial institution was premised on the Bank’s capability and readiness to provide support services and buy into the philosophy of the Benue State Government by keying into the project.
The Consultant further stated that they present a consortium that will provide a data centre for the state; a consortium that have the competence and expertise in data security, safety and integrity, under the ledership of Dr. Krish Ranganath of the Africa Data Centres.
He emphasised that the companies comprising Africa Data Centres, Cedarview, Uni-Cloud Africa Limited SIT-Consulting, plan to unleash over 38 digital infrastructures in the state, which are all revenue-embedded items that will be providing revenue for the state and at the same time block leakages. “We are projecting a revenue profile of more than a hundred billion naira every year if these (Infrastructures) are fully developed”, he concluded.
In a brief remark, representative of UBA, Yusuf Kabir, Regional Head, North East and North Central, said the Bank was happy to be given the opportunity to provide financial support services for the project, and promised that whatever it takes, the Bank will support the project from the beginning to the end.
You may recall that the Benue State Government on May 3, 2024 approved the establishment of the Benue Digital Infrastructure Company Limited (BDICL) as a special purpose vehicle company in partnership with Gamint Corporation Ltd to invest in the business of ICT and digital infrastructure services for the state.
The lead consortium, Africa Data Centres is the largest network of interconnected data centres and cloud-neutral data centre facility in the whole of Africa. Their partnership with Gamint and Benue State Government for the first state government-owned data centre through BDICL will provide rapid and secure data centre services and interconnections across the state and Nigeria in general.
BDICL is strategically located for world-class facilities; providing a home for all digital infrastructure and business-critical data. This development will further strengthen the Benue Digital Economy ecosystem by providing ICT skills and gainful employment for our teeming youth as well as increase IGR for the state.
After the strategic meeting at Government House, the Committee headed by the Deputy Governor, led the two teams comprising project consortium and the lead financier for an inspection tour of the Benue State Library facility at Wurukum in Makurdi, which is expected to be the take-off site for the Benue Digital Hub.
