Delivering ICT dividends; the weak and the missing links
Understandably, the commencement of the Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) in Nigeria was greeted with euphoria. Prior to the roll out of GSM services in 2001, there were less than 400,000 fixed telephone lines. Today, the number of active mobile lines is put at over 116 million by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). Roughly speaking, 116 million people are talking, painfully speaking!
Although there are mobile communication devices to suit every pocket nowadays, the tariffs being charged by the telecom operators are still on the high side. And what’s more, the poor quality of service remains a thorn on our flesh. In the beginning, they told us to talk the talk. And now we’re talking everywhere we go. But if we must think less and talk more we should at least get value for our money. We are tired of carrying two or three mobile phones, believing that’s the way to rule our world.
The news that subscribers now have the freedom of choice to switch networks without changing numbers is good only if the flavour being served by any of the operators is unique and tasteful. And the seemingly cumbersome process might well put people off. Nevertheless, the launch of the Mobile Number Portability (MNP) scheme by the NCC is a step in the right direction.
The potential of IT as a catalyst for development is substantial. Nigeria, like most developing nations, has come to recognise the importance of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) as a fundamental driver of productivity and growth. This recognition is well captured in the National Development Plan – Nigeria’s Vision 20:2020.
“The increasing globalisation driven by ICT makes it imperative for Nigeria as an emerging market to irreversibly consider the application and promotion of ICT strategy to facilitate its rapid growth and development. This will involve the development of a vibrant ICT sector to drive and expand the national production frontiers in agriculture, manufacturing and service sectors. It would also require the application of the new knowledge to drive other soft sectors: governance, entertainment, public services, media sector, tourism, et cetera.” This is the way to go!
However, the way to most effective and efficient use of ICT resources is to move away from what the legendary Chinua Achebe described as a way of turning “useful invention by serious-minded people elsewhere into a childish and cacophonous instrument for the celebration of status.” We should understand that ICT leverage is not a “nice to have” asset but a sine qua non for transforming Nigeria into a knowledge economy.
Whenever I think about how we use ICT infrastructure in this country, particularly in government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), the picture of a man riding in a taxi with his luggage on his head readily comes to mind. Once upon a time there was a time when folks treated computers like ornaments. Believe me, most of those computers were the outcome of some “computerisation” projects! Somewhere down the line the “beautiful toys” amazingly metamorphosed into a conduit for draining public funds. So far, the story-line is the same; the episodes are endless.
At the inception of the Biometric Voters Registration, we were told it wouldn’t be possible for a person to register more than once. Hardly had the exercise started than people realised there was nothing in place to prevent multiple registrations. Later, they told us they would clean up and remove all duplicates!
In the case of SIM card registration, it wasn’t the N6 billion public spending alone that bothered me. But why would the service providers not take sole responsibility for the project just as the commercial banks solely updated their customers’ bank accounts information?
If not ‘ghost’ biometric scheme, how else would you describe the current trend of uncovering a thousand ghost pensioners here and tens of thousands ghost workers there, but failing to unmask those that love the romance of “eating” ghosts’ benefits?
Talking of phone for farmers; on the one hand, it is a good idea to distribute 10 million mobile phones to rural farmers. On the other hand, we are not ripe for e-voting because the poor farmers are illiterates!
I hate to mention this, but how many MDAs have functional websites? How many government MDAs employ online business processes as it relates to service delivery to the general public. You know, they spend money on websites that are often not updated and, in most cases, inaccessible. Little wonder they fumbled with a simple request to supply something as basic as their organisation’s web address.
Almost always, the problem isn’t that of ignorance. It seems they know what they’re doing, and we know they know we know!
One of the critical success factors to national ICT transformation is government institutional structure. At last, there is now the Federal Ministry of Communication Technology (MCT) responsible for promoting optimal utilisation of ICT towards rapid economic growth. For speed and maximum impact, however, the MCT and other MDAs have to be on the same page. As of today, only very few government establishments can boast of having a working ICT structure. ICT units domiciled in the chief executives’ offices; ICT divisions trapped in the departments of planning, research and statistics; IT departments headed by non-IT professionals, et cetera, are neither here nor there. As one of its strategies for success, the MCT ought to push for the creation of functional IT (or ICT) departments in our public institutions as this would help provide an interface necessary for effective implementation of policies aimed at maximising the levering potential of ICT for national development.
Similarly, the dearth of IT experts in our public institutions doesn’t help matters. This has created a vacuum currently being filled by non-IT personnel (analog pegs in digital holes) and exploited by private business partners alike, resulting in misplaced priorities, poor value-for-money solutions, and tasteless service delivery nation-wide.
Again, to address this problem, we urge the MCT to liaise with relevant organs of government to create appropriate cadres and right incentives to attract and retain IT professionals in the civil service.
John Adebisi is a social commentator, wrote in from Lagos
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