Efem Nkanga
26 September 2007
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Lagos — A nation's wealth and economic power can be measured through the digital technological advancement.
Most countries in the world today have woken up from their slumber to the fact that you cannot separate development from technology as the two go hand in hand. Any nation as at today that wants to be relevant in the scheme of things must embrace information communication technology because it has become one of the most viable instruments, of utmost significance to mankind, and the single most important channel through which a nation can impact positively on its citizens. ICT is now deployed by countries to drive economic growth. Since the advent of ICT in the world, incredible advancements have been recorded and are being recorded on a daily basis. We have digital technologies like fiber optic networks, instant messaging, cellular phones, new data networks, automated recording, 2.5G technology, 3G and so on and so forth. That technology can be used to champion local economic development, health, education, social justice, human development, and reduction of poverty is no longer in doubt.
All over the world today, it is agreed that Information Technology, IT has the power to trigger and aid development to an unimaginable degree, especially in developing countries. It is no doubt an enabler of opportunities in social, political, and economic spheres of any nation. Stakeholders are unanimous that it's the bedrock of any meaningful economic growth. It plays a very important role in any nation's ability to access, adapt, produce and apply information to developing human lives and capacities. Take the example of an African country like Senegal where fishermen are already deploying ICT to enhance their trade. Fishermen in that country subscribe to GSM and send SMS text services that give them scientific estimates of suitable fishing locations on the sea, weather forecasts that make them know if it's profitable and safe to go fishing or not and current fish market prices. Other examples of developing nations deploying ICTs to develop the communities abound. From Bangladesh, where the Grameen Foundation is working to totally eradicate poverty from the women through the rural village phone project and using its mobile network to connect hundreds of booths run by local entrepreneurs in the rural communities to the internet.
The villagers use the booths for different purposes like contacting relatives overseas, comparing market prices, or seeking for medical aid. In India, the biggest obsession right now is the mobile phone, while in Mozambique , ICT is being used to tackle the malaria scourge just as in Uganda , where Linux-based solar powered Wifi VoIP stations are being used to bring ICT to the locals.
In Rwanda, ICT is being deployed to curtail the spread of HIV and speed up the supply of medicine to people infected with HIV/AIDS even as ICT is being used to provide market information to rural communities in Ethiopia to help small producers in the countryside find better prices for their products,.
Zambia is another example where ICT is used to improve the production of farmers, and aid their purchasing and marketing decisions, among others.
In Nigeria, there are several initiatives geared at accelerating development via the technological platform in the polity. eNigeria initiatives geared towards connecting communities, vital agencies and institutions of government and educational institutions at all levels with ICT are currently being pursued by the government. From the National Rural Telephony project to other laudable initiatives like the Nigerian telemedicine initiative, Public Service Network initiative, Internet Exchange points initiative, wire Nigeria initiative and the development of a keyboard for the three main Nigerian languages, all aimed at enabling the rapid development of the Nigerian nation. The only skill and tool a nation needs, according to Leo Stan Ekeh, Chairman of Zinox Computers who pioneered the made in Nigeria brand of computers, is by making computers affordable and flexible for Nigerians to acquire. Ekeh who at a recent forum stressed that his dream was to see every home in Nigeria with a computer, stated that it was this vision that drove the formulation of the 'Computerise Nigeria Initiative' which he set up some years ago to drive the uptake of computers by Nigerians.
However, for Nigeria to become an Information Technology compliant economy, the government headed by President Musa Yar'Adua must adopt the computer as a major working and playing equipment. This is the only way to make Nigeria a global participant in the emerging global knowledge economy.
One fundamental way of achieving this is to start from the nation's educational system and make the study of IT compulsory from the nursery and primary level to tertiary level. It is only when the institutions of learning in the country are made to adopt IT wholly, can the drive to make Nigeria an ICT compliant economy be effective because the seeds of the adoption of the computer that will translate to a revolution would have been sown. Studies conducted in various climes have shown that children at a very early age have the penchant for picking up the rudiments of the computer even faster than adults.
Therefore, there is no doubt that if this is entrenched now in the little ones, Nigeria in the next 10 to 15 years will be a nation that cannot be ignored in the global space. If the present educational system is 100% equipped to produce globally competitive graduates, the future development of Nigeria will be guaranteed.
Another tool would be for Nigeria to shift its emphasis from the production of luxury goods to productive tools like the computer that would rehabilitate the nation's educational system and grow its economy.
Already, statistics show a significant uptake in computer adoption by Nigerians with projections that before the year ends, over 500,000 Nigerians would have their own personal computers as opposed to less than a hundred thousand six years ago.
This is however a far cry from what is desired because Nigeria with a population of 140,000,000 needs to do much more to make for an IT compliant economy by ensuring that policies are put in place to ensure that more Nigerians have their own computers. . With IT playing a formidable role in enhancing development and speedily becoming useful tools in our homes and offices and daily schedules, all efforts must be put into the drive to make Nigeria an ICT compliant nation.
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