Our dear citizens, the general business community, our development partners, and our youths whose learning and other programs depend on ICT, I bring you greetings. Today, with the support of the Cabinet and this collective inputs of stakeholders in the ICT Sector, I am pleased to adopt the National ICT and Telecommunication Policy of Liberia. The Policy seeks to drive the holistic development of the sector over the next five years. While Government is responsible to implement the policy, one of our strategies is to collaborate with the private sector in providing some of the basic services to our people through an enabling environment. Our country has lagged behind over the years in terms of not leveraging the opportunities that ICT provides. The urge is to empower the private sector, the commitment to transform public entities and our desire to support other institutions has been duly prioritized in this policy. We are convinced that the programs that constitute this policy will contribute to our national reconstruction process through optimizing technologies.
We all know that technology is powerful tool, but just a tool. Its efficacy lies in its ability to accomplish the will of the man and society, as a level of efficiency, speed, and economy of scale, so that we can create products and services, and reach more people over great distances, all exponentially, at more affordable cost to those who need them most. Our Government identifies ICT as a solution-based tool. Especially, putting in place the appropriate policy, legal and regulatory framework, and creating the enabling environment in governing the sector better prepare us in using this tool.
The National Telecommunications and ICT Policy is a strategic document that aligns our poverty Reduction Strategy and the Millennium Development Goals and the goals of the World Summit on Information Society as well as with the ECOWAS ICT supplementary Acts. This Government vision is for Liberia to become a globally competitive knowledge and information society where lasting improvement in social, economic, and cultural development is achieved through the effective use of ICT.
Let me thank the National Steering Committee for translating our vision into programs that cross-cut all sector; private, governance, health, education, and the communities.
Finally, I want to emphasize that this Government will at all times, promote access to relevant, localized, and understandable information for all citizens and residents.
His Excellency George M. Weah, Sr.
President, Republic of Liberia
This policy amends the National Telecommunications ICT Policy of 2010. While the 2010 policy laid the basis for future policy development, technology developments have continued, and new priorities have emerged that are critical to the sustainable development of the ICT sector. The new policy over the next five years (2019 to 2024) aims to address these developments and support the social and economic development of Liberian society under the key pillars of Structure, Empower and Transform (SET). In summary, the key objectives of the policy are to:
The vision of this policy is to facilitate Liberia‘s transformation into a knowledge-based economy and inclusive information society with enhanced social development for all. The policy thus recognizes the critical barriers that must be overcome in Liberia to achieve progress towards the SDG connectivity target and other regional commitments.
The Government‘s role in the ICT sector will be addressed over the next 5 years as outlined below.
In recognition that some functions are currently being performed under various institutions, this policy recommends that the following roles are enhanced with relevant changes where necessary to align with the policy‘s objectives (see Section 6).
Given the dynamic nature of the ICT Industry, this policy will be revisited on an annual basis by a cross-sectoral, inclusive multi stakeholder policy review team assembled by the MoPT. The review would identify new trends and emerging technologies which need oversight by the Ministry and propose modalities for their adoption or regulation.
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