19th International CODATA Conference
Category: Economic Development
African Economies and The Need For Improved Information
Communication Technologies.
Dr. Kingsley Oise Momodu (komomodu@yahoo.co.uk)
Chairman, CODATA Nigeria, Department of Restorative Dentistry, University of
Benin Teaching Hospital, Nigeria
It is not possible for any modern economy to grow or be sustained, without an
inbuilt telecommunications and information technology infrastructure. Technological
progress is cumulative and information travels fast these days, which helps
companies to produce more, better and cheaper goods. If Africa is to be a more prosperous
continent, it must have to provide goods and services that people would want
to buy. The wireless revolution and the Internet phenomenon have changed the way
people live and transact business and have taken centre stage in world affairs.
Africa must be part of this positive
change.
The lack of proper infrastructure in African countries retards
the rapid transfer of technology from the industrialised world. Many new and
advanced technologies operate in a computerised environment. Sadly, computers
still remain status symbols rather than productivity enhancing tools in Africa. Computerisation and other
technical administrative infrastructural components should be considered as
a serious challenge. Given the rapid rate of changes occurring in the electronic
industries, this phase of planning should avoid the impulse of planning in obsolescence,
so focus must be on obtaining state of the art computer systems to alleviate
some of the compatibility and upgradability problems.
A typical African country has a GDP of two billion dollars
($2b) equivalent to that of a medium sized town in a rich country.
Digital wireless and mobile communication can help Africa leapfrog into the global
village as a respectable continent. Telecommunications is the infrastructure
of the new information society. Africa’s challenge is to rapidly
grow her telecommunication and information technology as a means to achieve
economic freedom for her people. Without a solid telecommunications and information
technology infrastructure the continent will not attract the right level of
local and foreign investment needed to build her economies.
The challenge to Africa’s leaders is to come up
with efficient information communications technology policies that will rapidly
build Africa’s capacity to compete
effectively with other economies and to stop explaining and defining Africa’s problems in a racialist context.
Access to information and generation of information along with related applications
are the fundamentals for human development and poverty elimination.