Accra, Dec. 15, GNA - Dr. Joseph Annan, Deputy Minister of Education in- charge of Tertiary Education has pledged government's commitment to support university authorities in Africa to collaborate and share facilities such as laboratories, instruments and libraries.

"Currently, government is studying a programme to provide schools and universities more access including personal computers, internet and support the development of research and educational networks," he said.

Dr Annan was speaking at a dinner organized by the African Network Operators Group (AFNOG) and Partnership for Higher Education in Africa (PHEA) at the end of a three-week training programme on Bandwidth Management for 36 participants from 12 PHEA institutions in five African countries. The participants from Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania were taken through courses in Bandwidth Management and Optimization, Campus network best practices, running a Network Operating Centre (NOC), using NOC tools and providing E-Scalable services.

Participating universities were; University of Ghana, Legon, University of Education Winneba, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, University of Ibadan and University of Port Harcourt. The rest were; Obafemi Awolowo University, Ahmadu Bello University, University of Jos, Bayero University, Nigeria, Kenet and Kimathi University in Kenya, Makerere University in Uganda and University of Dar Es Salaarm in Tanzania.

Dr. Annan said implementation of the programme would stimulate further collaboration among researchers regionally and globally. "We encourage the universities to also take the initiative and begin to connect to each other to accelerate the emergence of network clusters that would join to create the National Research and Education Network (NREN)," he said.

Dr. Annan urged university authorities in Africa to be efficient in the use of the bandwidth irrespective of the amount involved to generate enough savings for their various institutions.

"Bandwidth Management points to an attempt to have more efficient networks that would make better use of this core resource. Therefore, a workshop that prepares the professionals with knowledge of system tools required to build and manage these emerging networks is an opportunity," he added.

Dr. Annan assured the Ghana Research Education Network (GARNET) of government's support adding that periodic discussions would be organized with GARNET as part of efforts to build a vibrant and healthy NREN in Ghana. Professor Sefah Dede, Chairman of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Advisory Board, University of Ghana, Legon, called for the needed critical human resource that would put the knowledge acquired in software and hardware at the country's tertiary institutions to effective use.

Professor Nii Narku Quaynor, Convener of AFNOG announced that the African Network Operators' Group (AFNOG) and the 11th and 12th African Network Information Centre (AFRINIC) Meeting would be held in Kigali, Rwanda in May and June 2010.

Mr. Paul Effah, Chairman of National Council for Tertiary Education urged authorities of African universities to meet the criteria of producing quality research works and employable graduates.

The AFNOG Workshop on Network Technology aims to offer advanced training to people who are in the process of developing and enhancing an Internet-connected network with regional and international connectivity. The target audience includes senior and mid-level technical staff of commercial Internet Service Providers (ISPs), academic networks, government networks, or Non-Governmental Organization networks. This workshop builds on the experience of previous AFNOG workshops held annually from 2000 to 2009 in 10 different African countries, and also the Internet Society's International Network for Education Transformation (INET) workshops, held annually from 1993 to 2000 at eight locations around the world.