The Nasarawa State government says it has begun the construction of a technology village, which will cost N30bn, in a bid to ensure that residents of the state improve on their knowledge of Information and Communication Technology and other technological innovations.

Governor Abdullahi Sule said this in Karu on Thursday during the groundbreaking ceremony for the technology village, which would be built on 57 hectares of land.

He said it became necessary to embark on the project because the world was going digital and he wanted residents of the state to have adequate knowledge of several kinds of technological innovations, which the technology village would be offering when completed.

He said, “Today’s groundbreaking ceremony is in fulfilment of my dream to build a technology village in Nasarawa State. I want to commend our partners for the efforts they have been making to see that this project becomes a reality.

“The technology village would occupy 57 hectares of land and we are also going to build 1,962 housing units with modern facilities for our people. The entire work here would cost N30bn, and I was told that the project would last for one year and by the grace of God, we would be here to commission the technology village in the next 12 months.”

Earlier in his speech, the Managing Director, ABS Blueprint Consortium, Mohammed Yamusa, commended the governor for articulating policies and programmes aimed developing the state, saying his company would use its wealth of experience to deliver a quality job within 12 months.

He said the technology village, when completed, would train 2,000 students on several technological innovations on a yearly basis in order to ensure rapid development of the state.

According to him, some of the features of the technology village include ICT campus with shared and visual workspaces, primary and secondary school, neighborhood shopping centre, police station, fire station and recreational parks.