HON. MINISTER'S REMARKS AT THE INAUGURATION OF THE EXPANDED PAIX DATA CENTRE
Source: ministry_of_communications_ghana

REMARKS BY HON. URSULA OWUSU -EKUFUL, MINISTER FOR COMMUNICATIONS AND DIGITALISATION AT THE INAUGURATION OF THE EXPANDED PAIX DATA CENTRE ON TUESDAY, 2ND JULY 2024 AT MARRIOT HOTEL, ACCRA AT 5:30PM GMT The Hon Minister for Finance, Dr Mohammed Amin Adam, The Managing Director, Head of Infrastructure Investments A50, Mr Raza Hasnani, The Managing Director for PAIX Data Centres in Ghana , Mr Bright Tawiah, Esteemed Ambassadors, Hon Members of Parliament Invited Guests All protocols observed Distinguish Ladies and Gentlemen Good evening, I am grateful for the invitation and wish to extend a warm welcome to you all. It is always a delight to be part of such an achievement from businesses in the sector I supervise. Best-in-class Cata centres like PAIX are a critical enabler of our national strategy to accelerate digital transformation and to ensure that the process is both inclusive and sustainable. Let me take the opportunity to commend everyone involved - both at PAIX Ghana and Africa50 - for their commitment and investment in the country and their wonderful partnership with Government to build Ghana’s digital economy, supporting job creation and enabling innovation. These are very exciting times for the Communications sector in Ghana. The Ministry is championing governments Digital Agenda to ensure that Ghana participates fully in this 4th Industrial Revolution. Cabinet has recently approved the Digital Economy Policy with 5 prioritized thematic areas to enable the Ministry to track the digital journey in Ghana. These are: i. Universal Access and Connectivity ii. Digital Government iii. Digital Skills iv. Data and Emerging Technologies v. Digital Entrepreneurship Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, as Africa and the World embraces digital transformation to enhance their socio-economic development, the explosive growth and aggregation of data has been one of the relevant topics for discussions at international fora. Data is now the ‘newly found Gold and Oil’ due to the high economic value of it. Data will drive decision ma king and where the resources should be prioritized to impact the livelihoods of people and economic growth of the country. With Data being the center of economics, there is an urgent need for Governments and the private sector to collaborate to derive the maximum socio-economic benefits associated with data utilization and to also pay attention to how data are securely stored and used. Government has established the Tier 3 National Data Centre, both Primary and Secondary, being supervised by NITA with adequate capacity to support the public and private sector. Government welcomes complimentary investment efforts of the private sector to ensure that together we serve the needs of our citizens and other countries on the African continent. Ghana is positioning herself to become the ICT Hub in the west African sub-region. Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, Ghana is facilitating the expansion of digital infrastructure to open up broadband access to accelerate access to meaningful content and smart services to benefit all citizens. Through the adoption of a whole - of-government approach to digitalise and transform public services in the health, education, local governance, agriculture, legislative and judiciary sectors, to mention just a few, services can be provided online to the benefit of all Ghanaians. We have built a high -speed E-Gov network connecting 951 public institutions and agencies across the country, powered by 3500 kms of newly laid fibre, providing a nationwide resilient 100Gbps optical fibre infrastructure that will support the delivery 4G/ 5G services across Ghana. This network has facilitated the delivery of essential services and improved the efficiency of government operations. Bridging the digital divide is our top priority and we continue to create digital opportunities for the marginalised, the elderly, and people in rural, remote, and underserved areas through initiatives implemented by the Ghana Investment Fund for Communications. To ensure inclusiveness, integrating basic digital literacy into our educational curricula and community-based digital laboratories is ongoing, as we recognise that digital skills development is the cornerstone of digital transformation. Ghana has prioritised digital gender equality and women and girls are encouraged to pursue Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines. Through the Girls in ICT Programme, we are touching the lives of many girls. We are currently implementing the Girls in ICT in Greater Accra Region with the training of 1000 girls and 100 ICT teachers. Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, the expansion of the PAIX Data Centre facility is important to the people and Government of Ghana because it will enhance our rank on the Data Center Map of Africa, create jobs and technology transfer to our people and afford greater opportunity for businesses to host their data in a secured environment, which will in turn drive down their costs of data hosting and guarantee security. I am informed that this Data Centre meets the highest of security standards. We have been pushing for data localization and secured storage on the continent to ensure the sovereignty and control of our own data. One of the major threats to the realization of the full potential of data is Data Security. We want to encourage the management of this Data Centre to be conscious of the physical and the virtual security of the facility to be able to win the confidence and trust of your clients. Additional, ensure that you adhere to all the tenets of the Data Protection Act. Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, we are committed to a cross-sectoral approach to development and enhanced collaboration with the private sector to aid rapid digital transformation. The Government of Ghana continues to work towards the creation of a fair regulatory environment and stability for the industry to thrive. One of the areas we are passionate about is supporting our local tech start -up ecosystem, nurturing the development of indigenous technology and encouraging women, children and persons with disabilities to engage in ICT. The expansion of PAIX Data Centre in Ghana is crucial to create the capacity for more people - from all backgrounds - to participate in Ghana’s digital transformation. Our talented creative community also relies on robust digital infrastructure to meet the growing demand for local content - whether music, art, film or fashion. We thrilled to see rising global interest in Ghanaian creativity and we are committed to creating the conditions for the expansion of digital infrastructure required to support this. Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen , a s a Ministry responsible for driving the Digital Agenda, the whole country is looking up to our sector to bring the needed benefits of the digitalisation efforts to enhance public service delivery and usher efficiency in the entire public service arena. This will project the country in terms of ease of doing business, better access and reduction in cost of acquiring these services. In conclusion, I would like to once again commend all the Executives of PAIX and Africa 50 for the choice to invest in Ghana and we want to assure you that your decision will yield the required return on investment and the growth of the communication sector. Thank you very much for your attention.