Leadership (Abuja)
Salihu Othman Isah
25 August 2008
Kano — Perhaps, some people may not be aware that Kano State lauched it's ICT policy since 2003. There is a renewed effort by the Shekarau Administration to make Kano State a reference point in ICT in Nigeria .
The global pace in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is getting more frenzy. The global challenge is such that no nation would like to be left behind. Sadly, Africa is still at cross-road in developing its ICT potentials, and Nigeria is worse still in this direction. Nevertheless, it is not yet a lost hope. Some states in the country have demonstrated a determination to join this growing trend and seems to lead the way for other states.
However, before delving into the effort of the Kano State government to promote Information and Communications Technology in the state, it is pertinent to look back and attempt to ascertain the reason(s) why the country still lags scandalously behind in the ICT. No doubt, one of the main reasons that could be adduced for this is poverty. This can be explained by the fact that even the few who have managed to acquire computer knowledge and information know-how lack the facilities with which to practice and update their proficiency. For instance, an average personal computer (PC) or laptop sells in the open market for a princely price of N75, 000. Yet, this is a country where per capital income is put at less than two dollars per day for the insignificant few who have a semblance of a job to call their own anyway.
Besides, computerisation of the nation's economy will continue to remain a pipe dream for a long time to come, because Nigerian leaders have also misplaced the nation's priorities, such that in the various skill acquisition and empowerment schemes evolved by various individuals and governments, computer training and acquisition have taken the back bench with the purchase of motorcycles, known variously as Okada, Going or Achaba depending on the part of the country they operate. These have become the means of empowering the youths in this clime. This might have also accounted for why it has been a Herculean task to catch up with the ICT phenomenon.
Perhaps, again, it is to correct these anomalies that the administration of Governor Ibrahim Shekarau has, since 2003 under its Human Development Policy, made concerted efforts to move ahead of its contemporaries, not only by promoting acquisition of computer knowledge, but has equally computerised some of its operations and empowered its workers. In fact, it is on record that Kano state is the first. Happily too, this policy is expected to culminate in the establishment of an ICT park that will cost the state a whopping N750 million to be expended in the renovation and completion of the office complext, the Ado Bayero building situated near Radio Kano and Kofar Nassarawa in the metropolis. The project would have cost more, but for the agreement reached by the Shekarau administration with the Malaysian firm that won the contract on a Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis. The company will foot the expenses to furnish and install facilities at the park, which will come into use in a few months.
As a way of further empowering individuals in various sectors, the government has given laptop computers to its administrative staff. Practicing journalists happen have equally benefited from this largesse; the only snag, however, is that they are not as lucky as practitioners in some sectors who receive theirs en-bloc. It is pertinent to state here that of about fifty officially recognised correspondents or in Kano, only five have received laptops since it began about four years ago.
To recall, only recently, specifically on August 8, 2008, to be precise, the Kano State governor formally launched, and indeed distributed 1, 278 units of laptop computers for Academic Staff of Tertiary Institutions in the state at the Aminu Kano College of Islamic and Legal Studies. The laptops fitted with special features such as writing pen and personalised writing recognition, tilting/twist screen, WebCam, remote control, Bluetooth, wireless LAN, DVD Writer Drive, finger print reader, as well as local language-enabled keyboard, are intended to serve as teaching aids to the academic staff of the six tertiary institutions in Kano. They are the Kano University of Science and Technology, Sa'adatu Rimi College of Education, Kano State Polytechnic, Audu Bako College of Agriculture, College of Arts , Science and Remedial Studies, as well as the Aminu Kano College of Islamic and Legal Studies.
Shekarau, at that occasion, did reveal that the decision by his administration to purchase the laptops was as a result of the negotiations between his government and the Joint Consultative Forum of the Academic Staff of the institutions. According to him, "we have accepted to meet this request of the academic staff and we are fulfilling it today, not only because of the importance of computers to modern age, but more importantly, due to the fact that the idea fits into the planned computerisation drive of the ICT programme which is a major component of the newly introduced roadmap for economic growth of Kano state".
He continued that, "as far back as 2003, under the Human Development Policy, the government has realised the significance of information and communications technology as a panacea to genuine development. Due to this, the process of designing an appropriate blueprint for the development of information and communications technology was set in motion and by 2005, the state came up with information and communications technology policy and a blueprint and time table for its actualisation.
I am proud to state that Kano State is the first in this country to come up with an ICT state policy. As you might be aware, plans have reached an advanced stage in the implementation of the policy. Many consultations with experts on the subject and professional bodies have been made and the ICT Park will be located at Gidan Ado Bayero, at Kofar Nassarawa. Funds have been allocated for the project", he enthused.
The governor did not mince words as he also used the occasion to revel in the euphoria that his government has introduced a vigorous computerisation drive of the civil service as well as computer training of civil servants as a way of complementing its earlier effort. He explained that the intention is to set in motion a gradual process of digitalising the civil service and make civil servants computer literate. Again, it is his belief and rightly too, that the action will enable the state catch up faster with the rest of the world in matters of administration and management, in the running of the economy as it will be able to harness the power of planning, efficiency and effectiveness that are associated with computerisation of process and procedures.
Shekarau equally mentioned something worthy of note, and which will further explain why the magnanimous distribution of the laptops to teachers is both important, just as it is instructive. First, he rationalised his government's yearnings to revamp the education sector and with an expression that betrayed his desire to achieve in this direction, he said that is why the state government has been giving it priority policy consideration.
"We have created several boards, like the Teachers Service Board, the Science and Technical Schools Board and have even created the Ministry of Higher Education in order to ensure that the sector is revamped and raised to a higher level due to its significance in our quest for development. That is why the roadmap has given significant attention to it and that is why we have increased funding of the sector".
The governor who surmised to the admiration of all, the great strides being made by the six tertiary institutions, especially their achievements in the accreditation, re-accreditation and resource inspection, not only described them as a commendable feat; he, as well, prayed that it be sustained. Shekarau, however, maintained that the performances are true reflections of government's huge investments in the education sector, coupled with the commitments and energies of the academic and other staff of the institutions.
The governor did not complete his speech without reeling out what the value of the laptop to the teachers is to the people of the state and its economy, noting that it is immense. Said he: "it will serve as an alternative revenue base to oil and as a means through which the problems of unemployment could be addressed. This is in addition, to the other benefits that will accrue to the state in areas related to software design and production for local and international markets".
Moreso, he concluded that the aim of purchase and distribution of the laptop computers is to cause a significant shift in the teaching process, away from depending on the chalk and talk system, but to digitalisation which is the standard worldwide at the moment. Hear him: "This shift to the use of computers will not only revolutionise teaching and learning but it will expand the frontiers of research as limitless knowledge will be at the disposal of teachers and the students".
Governor Ibrahim Shekarau, however, charged the institutions to provide additional components like computer projectors and screens which are required in the classrooms to aid the computerisation of teaching. As a result of this, he therefore directed them to utilise part of the internally generated revenues to provide those items gradually.
On his part, the Kano State Commissioner of higher education, Dr. Namadi, in his speech at the occasion noted that the purchase and distribution of the laptops was a grand strategy by the state government to provide quality education to the people. According to him, the laptops are the most modern brand with large storage capacity and capability of handling large data for statistical analysis; therefore enjoining the beneficiaries to handle the computers with good care as well as to utilise them to achieve the desire they are meant to serve.
Responding on behalf of the beneficiaries, the chairman, Joint Consultative Forum of the six institutions, Mallam Abubakar Garba, who could not disguise his joy at the development, appreciated the gesture saying it is timely and historic as it is the first of its kind nationwide.
And if Garba described the Shekarau government as education-friendly, he is backed by a manifestation that is implicit since the governor himself is a teacher of high repute. Beyond this friendliness to the education sector, the Kano State number one citizen has been touching many other sectors in several different ways that may take long to rival.
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