2011: ICT4D Plan Missing as Politicians Chase Shadows

Election fever is sweeping across the country but presidential aspirants are not talking about how to use information and communications technology (ICT) to underpin Nigeria’s regeneration, proffering instead to focus on the same political gimmicks that now sound like broken records, Nigeria CommunicationsWeek can now reveal.
Worried ICT professionals described the situation as scary, urging greater focus by the aspirants on ICT to hasten the rebuilding of the country’s economy hobbled by years of mismanagement and neglect.
But politicians seemingly unconcerned have continued to marshal out their governance agenda and leadership qualities and occasionally slinging mud at rivals.
Though all the aspirants anchored their campaigns so far on promises to fight corruption, job creation, improvement on security of lives and properties and the overall improvement in standard of living, none however has said how these would be achieved.
Titi Omo-Ettu, president, Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (Atcon) said that the body will task all presidential aspirants for the 2011 general elections on their plans and agenda for Information Communication Technology in Nigeria.
Omo-Ottu noted that the ICT sector can not be ignored because it offers huge businesses, waiting for Nigerian IT professionals to leverage on. He said that his body will invite the presidential candidates of all political parties for the 2011 elections to address its members on plans they have for ICT.
Welcoming the development, Benson Akuche, ICT and investment expert based in the United States of America said “the aspirants have all got off on the wrong foot. At this stage, there is no mention of specific issues. They should be talking in clear terms how they intend to deliver good governance”.
Nigeria CommunicationsWeek gathered that lack of attention on details can wreck some of the aspirants’ political campaigns particularly now that Nigerians are tired of their oratory and undelivered promises in the past.
Frank Durumba, a direct marketing consultant said that most of the aspirants have launched high tech campaign strategies to woo voters and sell their candidatures but have not said a word about how to tackle the menace of internet scams that have earned the country notoriety as a fraud haven.
“From day one, the aspirants should have been talking cyber policing, fighting online crime and child protection online and so on,” Durumba said.
Also the issue of the licensing process of 2.3 GHz spectrum band that was expected to boost the telecommunications sector has remained unresolved since 2009 and so far, the aspirants have not talked about it.
“I expect to be hearing how an aspirant intends to make broadband internet, the life wire of development. Broadband is already a basic right in some country but has remained largely under developed in Nigeria, because of the unseriousness of successive governments,” Akuche added.
Elsewhere, taxation on ICT is hurting fresh investment in the only thriving sector and no aspirant has said anything about how to address the indiscriminate quest for internally generated revenue from the telecoms industry by all tiers of government.
Gbenga Adebayo, chairman, Association of Licensed Telecommunication of Nigeria, (Alton) said even as revenue sources are critical for the development of Nigeria, telecom companies are constantly harassed, their base stations and offices locked indiscriminately by governments.
“With respect, our major challenge stem from the activities of States and Local Governments. Members have brought documents evidencing requests for taxes and levies that are, in our view, outside of what is prescribed by law,” he added.
Nigeria CommunicationsWeek also gathered that redesigning the educational curriculum, creation of ICT parks/innovation hubs to create new ICT entrepreneurs capable of leap-frogging the country’s growth should have formed part of the agenda of the aspirants.
According to Deji Kadiri, managing director of ZeeSoft Nigeria Limited, ICT presents Nigeria the rare chance to join the league of the fastest developing countries of the world.
“If the aspirants are not talking about ICT, it is scary in my opinion because this is one area that Nigeria can quickly leverage on to join the league of industrialised nations like South Korea and Singapore. The investment here is minimal compared to setting up a motor manufacturing plant,” Kadiri said.