The Nigeria Computer Society (NCS), has called on the Federal Government to, as a matter of urgency, consider the deployment and implementation of modern technology tools and solution in all government’s activities.

Chairman, Lagos Chapter of the Nigeria Computer Society, Mr. Rogba Adeoye, who made the call in Lagos, told THISDAY in an interview that government needed to deploy and implement more Information Technology (IT) tools and solutions in order to achieve better results and transparency in governance.

Commending the recent efforts of government in discovering over 45, 000 ghost workers in the Federal Civil Service Commission through the use of biometrics technology, Adeoye said government could leverage on IT solutions to tackle the issue corruption in the society.

"If government can apply biometrics technology, which is only one aspect of several technology solutions, and achieve great results, it follows that government can use several technology solutions to stamp out corruption in the system and rebuild the confidence of Nigerians, if well implemented," he said.

According to him, what it means is that if government further adopts the use of IT solution, things will be done transparently and there will be no more financial leakages in the system.

"If IT is adopted in voters’ registration card issuing and also used for the actual voting, Nigeria will be producing credible election results few hours after the election. Again it will also help in addressing the insecurity situation in the country. A lot could be done with available IT solutions, if government is prepared to listen to NCS as an advocacy group, and the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), which is the IT implementation body for the country," Adeoye said.

Cybercrime, he said would be a thing of the past, should government adopt the right technology, that is available everywhere.

"What we want is for government to use the application of IT to drive transparency, good governance and reduce corruption. NCS is therefore agitating for the adoption of and use of a complete IT application solution in governance. Everything about government should be computerised, especially when interfacing with the public. Government should computerise its payroll, and continue to use IT application services and drop the old ways of working manually. The emphasis should be on IT application solution," the NCS boss said.

He called for the strengthening of NITDA, and wants government to make NITDA a Commission and to create a NITDA Board, insisting it is the best way to make NITDA function very well in discharging its duties as IT implementer for Nigeria.

He pleaded with the government to appoint IT experts as the board members, once the board is created.

He, however, called on other IT bodies in the country like Computer Professional Registration Council of Nigeria (CPN), among others, to do their jobs diligently, by following due process in the administration of the various bodies, especially now that there will be a change in administration, following the end of tenure for NCS, NITDA and CPN this year.

Adeoye lamented a situation where the present tenure of Prof. Cleopas Angaye as Director General of NITDA would be expiring in few months’ time, without having a NITDA Board in place.

"If there was a NITDA Board, the impact of the agency would have been felt more in the country," Adeoye said.

He commended Angaye for his initiative in awarding scholarships to Master Degree and Doctorate Degree students to study in Nigeria and outside Nigeria, insisting that the initiative is a boost to human capital development, which he said, the country needed for rapid technology development.

He also requested that government to engage IT professionals in various positions at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Police Affairs, Ministry of Communications Technology and other government agencies, to enable them bring in their IT expertise to further drive the Nigerian economy.

source: allafrica.com

Looking at the current consumer trend in Nigeria Ojo Maduekwe writes that the country is fast shifting from software-consuming to a software-producing economy.

If you find yourself reading, shopping and building relationships with your internet connected smartphones and laptops, then welcome to the ICT age. More than before, advancement in information and communications technology (ICT) has continued to determine and reshape the way we live, work and play, greatly influencing and transforming the social media, government, education, culture and the workplace. At the centre of this knowledge revolution is software development.

Some parts of the world may have gone ahead in developing their software industry to become better advanced than Nigeria’s, but the giant of Africa is working at not being left behind. Once, the country was known for being contented as a consuming technology, but recent events have seen its citizens producing software for local consumption to the point that foreign organisations are looking critically at investing in the sector.

Before this realisation, Nigeria was losing so much money to the yearly importation of software.

According to President, Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON), Chris Uwaje, at a recent event, "over 90 per cent of the software used in Nigeria are imported, thereby creating enormous capital flight." This is expected to change as more investors get involved, and government pay closer attention to the industry."

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By Femke Van Zeijl

I used to think corruption was Nigeria’s biggest problem, but I’m starting to doubt that. Every time I probe into one of the many issues this country is encountering, at the core I find the same phenomenon: the widespread celebration of mediocrity. Unrebuked underachievement seems to be the rule in all facets of society. A governor building a single road during his entire tenure is revered like the next Messiah; an averagely talented author who writes a colourless book gets sponsored to represent Nigerian literature overseas; and a young woman with no secretarial skills to speak of gets promoted to the oga’s office faster than any of her properly trained colleagues.

Needless to say the politician is probably hailed by those awaiting part of the loot he is stealing; the writer might have got his sponsorship from buddies he has been sucking up to in hagiographies paid for by the subjects; and the young woman’s promotion is likely to be an exchange for sex or the expectancy of it. So some form of corruption plays a role in all of these examples.

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Written by  Lanre Adewole and Dare Adekanmbi

THE Lisa of Ondo Kingdom and former chairman of the Lafarge West African Portland Cement (WAPCO), High Chief Bayo Akinnola, is dead.

Nigerian Tribune gathered that Chief Akinnola, a Knight of John Wesley and chairman of Multi-Trex Intergratex Foods Plc, died in Lagos on Wednesday, at the age of 78.

Born on August 1, 1934, the late Akinnola, father of Minister of Information Technology, Mrs Mobolaji Johnson, was educated in Ondo and Ibadan, where he was appointed Head Boy of Ibadan Grammar School.

Chief Akinnola, a devout Christian of the Methodist denomination, was knighted on July 19, 2009 by His Eminence, Dr Ola Makinde.

His last moment
Indications emerged on Wednesday night that foremost industrialist, Chief Akinnola, might have had premonition of his imminent departure to eternity before his eventual death at St. Nicholas hospital in Lagos.

An aide, who did not want his name in print, told the Nigerian Tribune that the celebrated industrialist was hale and hearty all through last week but by last Thursday, he made conscious efforts to reach as many people as possible who were close to him one way or the other.

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By HARUNA UMAR and SUNDAY ALAMBA | Associated Press – Mon, Mar 18, 2013

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — A man who appears to be a French hostage held by Islamic extremists has appeared in a video filmed three days ago, in the second recording released since he and his family were kidnapped on Feb. 19 in northern Cameroon.

The video’s audio airs a man’s voice that identifies himself as Tanguy Moulin-Fournier. He says that his family is being held by the Islamic radical sect known as Boko Haram which wants all its members freed, especially women and children held in Nigerian and Cameroonian custody.

Boko Haram is an Islamic extremist group that has been waging a campaign of bombings and shootings across Nigeria’s north. They are held responsible for more than 790 deaths last year alone, and dozens more since the beginning of this year.

"We lose force (strength) every day and start to be sick; we will not stay very long like this," Moulin-Fournier says in the recording.

The family has been held hostage for 25 days, he says in a shaky voice, giving the only date indication on the recording. The family comprising of Tanguy, his brother, his wife and their four children was kidnapped outside a national park in Cameroon’s Far North region.

The video was not immediately available, but a media source who viewed it says it shows the Moulin-Fournier family, including the four children. The source spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.

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