Clinton lauds IT revolution in India

WASHINGTON, AUG. 29. The U.S. President, Mr. Bill Clinton, has cited India as an example of IT revolution and asked Nigerians to emulate the Indian feat and ``dramatically broaden'' their access to the IT sector.

Winding up his two-day visit to Nigeria, Mr. Clinton shared his experience of cyber literacy in Indian villages, saying, he was ``stunned'' to see a young mother using a computer to dial up child health information on the internet in two languages - Hindi and English. ``People across India can even use the internet stations to apply for routine documents like driver's licences,'' he said.

IT could enable Nigeria to ``jump- start'' economic development by 10 or 30 years. However, to do it, countries must ``bridge the digital divide''. Only 9,000 Nigerians have direct access to internet at present. To enhance Nigeria's economic progress and diversitythe U.S. Exim Bank had approved over $1 billion loan guarantees, he said.

- PTI

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Section  : International
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