Challenges in it sector: An example of Bauchi

The controversial Stephen Orosanye report on rationalisation of government agencies has also recommended the reverting of National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) in to ministerial department, which is a parastatal under Federal Ministry of Communication Technology. Adding to this, Bauchi and Sokoto states have recently been rated as the two states that have the highest […]

The controversial Stephen Orosanye report on rationalisation of government agencies has also recommended the reverting of National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) in to ministerial department, which is a parastatal under Federal Ministry of Communication Technology. Adding to this, Bauchi and Sokoto states have recently been rated as the two states that have the highest number of those children that do not enrol in to even the Basic Education; and those who enrol receive basic but not qualitative education.

In 2008, the Federal Government through the National Council on Education (NCE) approved a new curriculum for senior secondary schools in the country. Among the new innovations introduced in the curriculum was the making of computer studies/ICT a compulsory cross-cutting core subject meaning that all secondary schools students must study it. The curriculum was to take off fully in 2011 with SS1 students of that year starting the computer studies/ICT subject while the old curriculum was to be phased out by 2014 when the first students of the new curriculum could have reached their final year in school. More so, Federal Civil Service Commission recently has introduced the critereon that none can be employed, even a graduate, without he/she acquiring computer literacy.

It is sad that some of the states have since started leveraging ICT knowledge, while Bauchi, ‘as the seventh most populous state in the nation, the most populated in North/East region with the population of about 5.6 million persons and second state with highest rate of unemployment among youth’, according to National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) 2012 figures- a factor that indicates a big challenge for the state; is still waiting behind.

In their attempt to get the problem minimized- US Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs); Northern Education Initiative (NEI) and LEAD/RTI, all of which are supported by a mother NGO, United State Agency for International Development (USAID) and have their offices in these states only. And for LEAD/RTI, they are currently partnering with Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) on the project, ‘ICT capacity building for local government staff in Bauchi state’. In the process of conducting the project, three out of five parts involved in the project including Advocacy Visits, Baseline Survey and ICT sensitization lecture have now been covered. IT professionals from CITAD delivered very interesting ICT sensitization lectures to targeted audience in four LEAD/RTI’s champion local governments in Bauchi state including Dass, Bauchi, Ningi and Katagum.

As a result, I got to understand that ICTs are important not only in the way people often think of IT, but also in promoting transparency and accountability. Good Governance which is the goal of every society- is today observed and evaluated through ICTs. For instance, Ekiti state under Kayode Fayemi has provided computers to all secondary school students in the state; they also lodge both both annual and monthly budget online (website), so that everybody everywhere can access it without leaving anything unturned. It also reduces dependence on government, as most of our IT professionals have taken abroad; others are here occupying competitive organizations for white-colour jobs.

Local government areas are there for local people who are majority in Nigeria, surprisingly baseline survey and discussions with local government staff during ICT sensitization lecture have shown that about 97% of them have strong interests in learning IT only that they had not been given the chance to get involved. They also never attended any computer course and do not have it in their offices, including those in Finance and Budget & Planning departments. Really it was a shocking experience.

ICTs in Nigeria are mostly limited to few urban centres for reasons like: urban centric development perception of the country, limited telecommunication infrastructure, poor ICT base, lack of power supply, limited access to education, cultural and linguistic barriers and Inappropriate government policies, While ICT dimensions include Internet, Radio, Television, Publishing Technologies, Satellite Based Broadcasting, Wireless technologies and many more.

Though ICT is costly, it’s luckily enough for those who like today that they simply access it on their GPRS enabled phones; browsing, chatting (on Facebook, 2go, Twitter, Eskimi, Slick etc), sending and receiving e-mails, retrieving documents, transferring data through Bluetooth, sharing information, capturing data, sending frontline SMS, sending and receiving both SMS and MMS, calling and receiving calls, among others. With all this, the fact is that people still need to learn effective IT knowledge from computers more than just mobile phones; where they will learn how to operate relevant packages like; Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Access, Internet, Corel Draw; all of which might not be there on mobile phones.

Unknown to Bauchi state government, there are many sources of supportrt from Federal Government and internationall donors for governments IT programmes- who are always ready to assist; but alas most of these including those of Federal Government are over 80% being utilized and benefited by our southern colleagues. They include; Galaxy Backbone Plc, Computer Aid International, Computer Refurbishing Scheme, all of which are headed by northerners and Indigenes of Bauchi state as well. The kind of support they render include providing facilities to readymade IT centres, Internet access to computer centres and selling of computers at cheap and affordable prices among others.

The essence of governments is not only to give job for citizens, but also to stimulate and or motivate them get other jobs apart from government jobs, and finally achieve the balanced economy without a part jeopardizing the other. Therefore, we are calling the authorities of Bauchi state to also join in the demand that proprietors should make their schools ready for the implementation of the new IT curriculum in the shortest possible time by providing them with adequate ICT facilities and personnel. And as the partnership of USAID/RTI/LEAD/CITAD are currently undertaking a project in four local governments of the state; let the state government also come in and introduce the project in the remaining 16 local governments other ministries and agencies of the state.

Aboki is of Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), Bauchi