Kumasi, March 17, GNA- Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, Asantehene, has advocated the formulation of policies and instruments that could be used to bring the benefit of Information Communication Technology (ICT) to bear on the daily lives of Ghanaians. He said this was necessary to enable the nation to join the ICT World whilst bridging the technological gap to ensure a sustainable socio-economic growth.

Otumfuo Osei Tutu said this in a speech read on his behalf at the fourth graduation ceremony of the Kumasi Centre of the National Institute of Information Technology (NIIT), in Kumasi at the weekend. A total of 125 students graduated and were given Diploma after a two-year studies in Networking, Business and Software Engineering. The Asantehene stressed the importance of ICT education, saying a pool of highly-trained professionals and technocrats who were well-versed in ICT, was crucial to any government aimed at pulling the country out of its present economic predicament. He praised NIIT for partnering government to promote ICT awareness among the citizenry and urged them to continue to evolve programmes that were relevant to the development agenda of the nation. Mr Vivek Verma, Kumasi Centre manager of NIIT, said the institute last year, granted scholarships to some 50 students in the second cycle and tertiary institutions across the country to help them pursue courses in ICT.

The move, he said, falls in line with the company's mission and policy to upgrade the knowledge of needy but brilliant students in the country in ICT to sharpen their skills and competence.