This year’s Pan African Digital Initiative Summit & Expo, themed ‘Infrastructure Protection, Cybersecurity, and Connectivity as Growth Drivers in the Digital Age, has in attendance the influential players in the African information and communications technology (ICT) markets as speakers.
The event was organised by TechTv in partnership with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the Association of Licenses Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), the Nigeria Data Protection Commission, Zoho Technologies, and others to explore how the widespread deployment of digital technology infrastructure is both creating opportunities for socio-economic development and causing the rise of attacks, both physical and cyber. The consensus among experts is that digital transformation, combined with a rapid explosion of technologies, has paved the way for greater vulnerabilities and newer forms of threat to enterprises.
Bimbo Abioye, CEO, Fintrak Software, who delivered a keynote address on how Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) has enabled digital transformation in the public sector, noted that local content needs to be put in place to facilitate whatever digital technology infrastructure is deployed in the country. He frowned at the Africans penchant for foreign things and their inability to be proud of their own. He said, ‘This attitude only means we are enriching foreign nations by creating jobs for their populations at the detriment of our own. This is digital enslavement where our able young graduates have nothing to do.”
Mr. Abioye highlighted the number of challenges in the public sector and how ERP has been able to help reduce them. “The high cost of running paper-based government services is a critical problem; excessive duplicity and multifunction, archaic bureaucracy, and numerous bottlenecks due to the public service model, non-access to public data that can transform the economy because the environment is largely manual-based, endemic corruption, and self-aggrandizements among those charged with public delivery were among the problems limiting the effectiveness and efficiency in the public sector. Manual policy, apart from its challenges, is also expensive and time-consuming. With continuous engagement among ecosystem participants, the ERP can bring much-needed change. Everyone has a role to play in the technology industry to deliver their own quota in the ecosystem.
According to him, “Digital transformation is the use of digital technology in government activities to streamline and integrate workflow and processes for the purpose of effective data and information management, enhancing public service delivery, and expanding digital channels for engagement and empowering the people. Technology can bring monumental change. It would allow the public sector to operate with greater transparency.”
Mr. Alani Lateef, Coordinator, Lagos State Science, Research, and Innovation Council, who represented the Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Science & Tech, Ibilola Kasunmu observed that the digital age is transforming Africa with connectivity, infrastructure protection, and cyber security driving growth, Connectivity drives innovation, fosters economic growth, and empowers individuals. He said Lagos State is transforming into a smart city hub in Africa that would unleash the technology revolution. “The government is generating a comprehensive database of all SME residents in the state.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Johnson Adebowale
Quelle/Source: The Sun, 02.08.2023
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