Information and Communications Technology (ICT) are seen as essential tools for development and their roles in enthroning transparency and good governance, this 21st century cannot be over looked. In Nigeria, since 1999, when democracy returned, a lot seem to have been done and achieved at various levels as development that enhances transparency, good governance and democracy, mostly through some steps taken either by the government, private sector and well-meaning individuals in order to better the lives of the citizenry.
For instance, the Oron Town Development Union in Lagos, recently launched an ICT resource centre, located in Lagos and plans to replicate this at the six geo-political zones in the country.
The essence is that residents of such areas could have access to some of these technologies deployed to improve their life-styles. These include the Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) to offer residents cheap Internet access, ICT training and with library section obviously equipped with books that have general interest to specific ICT-related materials.
Also, Lagos State government in conjunction with Microsoft Nigeria, commissioned a multi-million Lagos Digital Village (LDV) at Yaba, with the capacity to training and offering web-related services with about 70 Personal Computers (PCs).
Recently also, a Senator representing Lagos West Senatorial district, Chief Tokunbo Afikuyomi, established an ICT centre, located at Idimu Road, Egbeda-Lagos, even as he has launched a web-site - www.lagoswest.com, to enable him interact and be accessible to all electorates from the zone and beyond.
Another instance, is the training of graduates free by the Afikuyomi centre with some incentives such as feeding and transport allowances to participants, which now include residents beyond the immediate constituency, but all Lagosians. Its not only upgrading them socially but empowering them with the tools of tomorrow. Thereby, making such participants employable in the modern-day society.
Moreso, another ICT centre established by Hon. Nduka Irabor, at his area of the South-eastern Nigeria, cannot be over-looked either.
Socially, these centres go further to facilitate the desire of most Nigerians who yearn for an improved economy thus bettering the lives of dependants of those participants and at the same time, furtherung penetration of awareness on the importance of ICT.
Secondly, the most dramatic impact of ICT could be said to be in communications, which have undoubtedly been economic and it is now accepted that the productivity and competitiveness of all-economic sectors and their capacity to innovate in terms of products, services and processes, increasingly depend on communications networks.
Telecommunications, is known to play an essential role in politics and governance, by enhancing a government's ability to provide security for its citizens, protect its borders and more effectively handle civil emergencies, and national disasters.
In turn, the citizens have easier access to government and greater awareness of government programmes and activities.
ICTs are also making it possible for developing countries to participate in the global economy in ways that were not hitherto viable, by enabling them to take advantage of their intellectual and cultural resources which, the chief executive of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Mr. Ernest Ndukwe, recently described as the "raw materials of the information age".
Politically, these kind of steps by the political class to develop ICT by bringing these tools closer to the people, is positive, because, those of them who may want to brush-up their career politically would be literarily forced to toe this line.
As such, those who benefited from these investments, would not like the dream to die, thus, wanting other people, especially the youths to also benefit.
Therefore, the impacts of such a project, either socially or politically, is the sustainability of the project, which could not be easily forgotten.
However, on the policy aspect, the government has at various stages, embarked on ICT-based policy initiatives, namely the training of to civil servants by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), which number is placed at over 500 nationwide.
This include the training at the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary, which made the Director-General of NITDA, Prof. Gabriel Ajayi, to declare that the nation has developed "IT Champions" in the government.
Presently, plans have been advanced for various training sessions at the National Assembly by NITDA, especially at the committee levels on relevance of IT and how it could be deployed to influence their attitude to the lives of citizens.
The implications thereof is that the bills on ICT, for instance, among other issues, would in no distant future, always have an easy seal at the three arms of government, thus making governance easy and nearer to the populace.
In addition, the need to deploy ICT in governance have facilitated some state governments to create offices for special advisers on ICT, while some now have commissioners strictly on IT.
As at the time of filing this report, the likes of Lagos, Bayelsa, Cross River, Ogun, Kano, Jigawa, among others, have one special adviser or Commission on ICT with some people, especially youth working under these offices. Whereas a state like Anambra is understudying the ICT processes implemented by Ogun State.
It shows the determination of most of the political class to enthrone transparency and good governance in a democratic setting like Nigeria.
For example, Senator Afikuyomi has a website with personalised electronic mail (e-mail) for interaction with the citizens. This medium is seen as short-cut to political hierarchy and by-passes protocols, which ordinarily would take some times if not weeks to seal through; to book appointments to see a politician.
Imagine wanting to see a senator, you must have a political leaning and on appointment. But with e-mail, he is bound to see or listen to one of the aids who would read out the messages to him, but as the structure is, most people prefer assessing their e-mails themselves, at least, to show-off that they are IT literate and indication of exemplary life.
Except where it is absolute that a third person in form of a web-master or secretary is employed to take care of that, but most people prefer doing it themselves.
The enthronement of ICT in the socio-political sphere, no doubt encourages transparency and good governance, because any information transacted could be used for or against dubious acts, while at the same time making information available to both the public office holders, either elected or appointed and the citizenry.
A good number of Nigerians, nowadays, have e-mail accounts and include same, in their addresses and those in government circle are not left out. This was not the case about three years ago.
Therefore, it was based on this understanding that stakeholders and government of Nigeria, are harmonising plans to lead the sub-region in every aspect of ICT and e-government precisely.
This was believed to have received added import after President Olusegun Obasanjo, personally participated at the first phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), last December.
And like Prof. Ajayi noted, top government functionaries are now being turned to IT Champions and with Presidency on the lead, transparency, good governance, is now the hall-mark of the Nigerian people.
To this end, the government has set up a Cyber-crime Working Group (CWG) to specifically streamline existing and future laws to combat computer and cyber-crime even as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), as well as Anti Corruption Commission are on stage; all in effort to crown transparency in governance at this technological age.
The step to evolve ICT in governance would not only better the lives of the citizenry, but would increase accountability in governance. So these steps must be sustained to change the perception Nigeria has globally from a corrupt nation to an enduring nature with accountability.
Autor: Remmy Nweke
Quelle: AllAfrica, 19.08.2004
