ICT AS A TRANSFORMATION TOOL IN OUR MODERN SOCIETY
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background Of The Study
ICT (information and Communication Technology) involves the use of electronic computers and other electronic communication means to mange and process information effectively.
The meaning of transformation
Transformation deals with change. It could be from old to new stage of the societal demand. Transformation comes as a result of peoples’ desire and seeks for improvement in their activities.
Transformation tools
Transformational tools are those devices or instrument used to transform things from old system to new system
Those tools are:
1. Telephone (GSM)
2. Computer
3. Radio
4. Television
5. Internet
6. Satellite
7. Fax
8. Pager
9. Telex machine
Telephone (GSM): this is a modern portable telephone that connects to a cellular base station, and is used for services such as SMS for text messaging, e – mail, Internet access and MMS for sending and receiving photos and videos.
Computer: this is a modern machine that can be programmed to automatically perform various operations. Information can be created stored and transmitted through the computer.
Radio: this is a wireless electronic gadget that transmits audio signals from radio stations that are picked up by any of the bands on the radio. These are the frequency Modulation (FM), Amplitude Modulation (AM), and Short Wave (SW) bands.
Internet: this is computer network that links computers together and allows almost all computers worldwide to connect and exchange information.
Satellite: this is a complex device that is located in space that orbits (goes around) the earth. Satellite transmission is a method of information or signal carriage from one part of the earth to another. The method is used for television, telephone and other network transmission. Example, satellite transmission used by the Nigerian Television Authority.
Telex machine: this is a device that is used to send messages from one business to another on the telephone network or by satellite.
Fax: this is a telecommunication device that is used to transfer copies of documents over the telephone network. It is like long – distant photocopying of messages in the form of a letter or any typed document.
Pager: it is a device that connects into telephone line thereby transmitting a periodic signal as an indication that the conversation over the circuit is being recorded.
Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have the potential to transform business and government in Africa, driving entrepreneurship, innovation and economic growth.
– eTransform Africa – produced by The World Bank and the African Development Bank, with the support of the African Union, identifies best practice in the use of ICTs in key sectors of the African economy. Under the theme “Transformation-Ready”, the growing contribution of ICTs to Agriculture, Climate Change Adaptation, Education, Financial Services, Government Services and Health is explored. In addition, the report highlights the role of ICTs in enhancing African regional trade and integration as well as the need to build a competitive ICT industry to boost innovation, job creation and the export potential of African companies.
The eTransform Africa study grew out of the African Union Summit of ICT Ministers, held in Addis Ababa in January 2010. At that meeting, Ministers expressed their belief in the transformational power of ICTs and their view that Africa was poised for a new era of growth that would take advantage of the platform laid by investment in new networks over the previous decade. In the 2000s, the focus had been on connectivity, bringing more and more of Africa’s citizens into the information society and building ever-faster connections to the rest of the world.
Analytical research had indicated the boost to economic and social development that could come from network investment. Over the previous 25 years, a 10 per cent increase in the penetration rate of mobile phones had been associated with a 0.8 per cent boost in GDP per capita in developing countries, while the same increase in broadband networks could add a further 1.4 per cent to general economic growth (World Bank, 2009).
In the 2010s, the focus should logically shift to transformation as the penetration of ICTs deepens in the core sectors of the African economy (World Bank, 2012).
While Ministers were hopeful of transformational change, they also expressed their frustration at the lack of hard evidence of the links between investment in ICTs and sectoral development. There were plenty of pilot programmes but few of these had reached scale or shown wide-reaching impact. There was a need to prioritize investment in using ICTs for sectoral development, but which sectors should be first in the queue? Which business models were proving successful and which pilot programmes represented best practice that could be replicated and scaled up?
This report attempts to answer some of those questions.
For the first time, detailed and systematic studies have been commissioned to show how ICTs are changing the landscape in different sectors, both in terms of worldwide best practice and in specific experience of African economies1. The eight sectoral and cross-cutting reports were commissioned following an international tendering process that attracted some of the best firms and individuals globally. The study was directed by a project team headed jointly by the African Development Bank and the World Bank. The work programme kicked off with a launch meeting in Nairobi, in February 2011, and continued with a review meeting in Johannesburg in June 2011.
As the reports and case studies have been elaborated, they have been subjected to expert scrutiny both by the project team and by the wider public, through the www.eTransformAfrica.org website and other blogs. This philosophy of “early exposure” of results has undoubtedly strengthened the final outputs through a rigorous process of review and ground-truthing.
The involvement in this study of the two major investors in the African ICT Sector – the African Development Bank and the World Bank Group – together with the African Union is significant because it sets out a new strategy for future investment, in close coordination with client governments, the private sector and other stakeholders. Although ICT infrastructure investment will continue to be important (Independent Evaluation
Group, 2011), increasingly future investment programmes will be geared to the transformational use of ICTs. The outcomes will be measured not in higher penetration rates but rather in outcomes such as poverty reduction, creation of jobs and enterprises, increase in agricultural productivity, better access to healthcare, clean water, education and so on. Thus this report marks not so much the end of a study but rather the start of a new phase of growth. The ICT investment programmes that arise from this new growth phase will be evidence-based, demand driven and stakeholder-led.
CHAPTER TWO
ICT AS THE TRANSFORMATIONAL TOOL IN OUR MODERN SOCIETY
ICTs, especially mobile phones, have revolutionized communications in Africa. The explosive growth of mobile phones in Africa over the past decade demonstrates the appetite for change across the continent. In the year 2000 there were fewer than 10 million fixed-line phones across Africa, a number that had accumulated slowly over a century, and a waiting list of a further 3.5 million. With a penetration rate of just over 1 per cent, phones were to be found only in offices and the richest households.
But the coming of the mobile phone has transformed communications access. By the start of 2012, there were almost 650 million mobile subscriptions in Africa (A. T. Kearney, 2011), more than in the United States or the European Union2, making Africa the second fastest growing region in the world, after South Asia. At the start of the decade, few imagined that such demand existed, let alone that it could be afforded. In some African countries, more people have access to a mobile phone than to clean water, a bank account or even electricity. Mobile phones are now being used as a platform to provide access to the internet, to applications and to government services.
The Role of ICT In Governments’ activities
Governments have an important role to play, in creating an enabling environment and in acting as a role model in adopting new innovations and technologies. Creating a vibrant environment where useful information is readily available to help entrepreneurs, farmers, health workers and environmentalists, for example, make better decisions in their daily activities requires a holistic approach and several supporting inputs or pillars. The key supporting pillars for such an environment includes adequate information and communications infrastructure, digital literacy and nurturing an ICT-skilled workforce that would propel emerging efforts to leverage ICTs to the next level to achieve sustainability and replicability. Taking a holistic view on a sector is a significant challenge for any government, regardless to how developed a country may be. Yet, as shown in the following chapters, African governments have made significant steps in building these pillars.
In terms of infrastructure, much of Africa’s investments, private and public, have been in increasing network capacity or bandwidth so that the quality of internet or broadband service is available to more countries on the African continent.
Infrastructure providing international connectivity requires large upfront investments which the private sector cannot shoulder. In these instances, public and donor funding are being leveraged. For example, in 2010 Eastern and Southern Africa was the only major region in the world not connected to the global broadband infrastructure by fibre optic cables. Twenty countries were reliant on expensive satellite connectivity to link with each other and the rest of the world. African governments and development financial institutions came together with the private sector to deploy the Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System (EA SSy), a submarine fibre-optic cable running 10,000 km along the east coast of Africa, connecting South Africa, Mozambique, Madagascar, Tanzania, Kenya, Somalia, Djibouti, Sudan, Comoros and Mayotte. Governments also participate directly in infrastructure investment, as the government of Botswana did when creating an alternative fibre route to the coast via Namibia. Hence, most of the international connectivity issues are being addressed. However, in order for ICT services to be accessible to more Africans, connectivity within the continent needs to be further improved. And the government’s larger role lies in creating an enabling environment – issuing licences, making available rights of way, managing spectrum, mandating infrastructure sharing and interconnection and so on – that allows a liberalized market to thrive and bring down price of service for the African consumer.
CONCLUSION
It is very important to note that ICT plays an important role in our society and quality ICT tools are required for quality ICT education in our society. Therefore quality ICT facilities should be made available, accessible and equally made easy for staff and students to obtain in order to have quality ICT education in Nigeria. It is ICT transformational tool that enhances quality education for transformation of individual which in turn help to boast national economy. ICT therefore should be implemented fully in the educational system as already allowed by federal government that CISCO is now be empowered to train federal government college students on ICT in Nigeria as the case with developed nations with the best ICT facilities in countries like united of state of America and Europe continent. Therefore, issues and challenges of ICTs in education should be given urgent/adequate attention in the national assembly and bill should be passed on the effective use of sophisticated ICT gadgets with ICT experts monitoring these equipments .These sophisticated ICT gadgets could stand in test of time, be equipment tested and trusted for durability and reliability provided electricity supply is stable and not erratic.
Recommendations
In order to overcome the hindrances of ICT in quality education, the under listed recommendations should be put in consideration to ensure the effectiveness of ICT in quality education.
Development and training of ICT experts, specifically for instruction design and development, who will work in partnership with educators and teachers (Kwacha,2007).
The adoption of ICT international standards and its inclusion in the Nigeria education system. Continuous training and retraining of teachers, others supporting staff and academia on computers and ICT skill acquisition should be provided.
Funding: Government at all levels of educational system should make ICT a matter of priority, improve the funds needed in ICT training of teachers, students and supporting staff available at all time.
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