Overview
During the last decade, it has been widely noted and documented that Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have established themselves as an indispensable element in assisting countries achieve their national development needs and priorities and specifically assist in meeting international development goals enshrined in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
In terms of assisting the achievement of development goals, ICTs inherently posses the characteristics as it facilitates consensus building and governance; creating and sharing knowledge; enhancing economic opportunities; empowering marginalized and disadvantaged communities; and addressing gender issues. The ability to strengthen national policies and strategies also lies in the new avenues created by ICT, which encourages greater collaboration and coordination with all stakeholders through enhanced communication and networking
In the past ten years, the Asia-Pacific region has witnessed numerous ICT4D pilot projects and initiatives attempting to link ICTs closer to national development agendas. Numerous documents, workshops and summits, and research papers point to the undeniable fact of the vast opportunities that ICTs are providing to the poor and marginalized communities. Case studies with rigorous methodologies have proven how these new ICT tools within the fields of education, environment and income generating opportunities are revolutionizing and helping nations develop socially and economically faster than ever before.
The most critical challenge to the region has moved significantly from the decade old debates on the role and relevance of ICTs towards the actual human dimension and capacities required to actually capitalize on these new technologies.
THE RELEVANCE OF MANPOWER
DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA
Economic Development: The relevance of manpower development in Nigeria could be situated vis-à-vis economic development. This is because manpower development captures the actual meaning of development in that it is people centred (World Bank 1991;Grawboski and Shields 1996). In addition, it involves the building of capacity and harnessing the State’s human resource which constitute a sine-qua-non for development. The above advantage was vividly conceptualized by Harbison (1973) when he stated that: Human resources constitute the ultimate basis for wealth of nations, capital and natural resources are passive factors of production; human beings are the active agents who accumulate capital, exploit natural resources, build social, economic and political organizations, and carry forward national development. Clearly a country which is unable to develop the skills and knowledge of its people and to utilize them effectively in the national economy will be unable to develop anything else.
At the macro level, we believe that technology even at the most basic level of advancement of software that was available ten years ago is sufficient to meet the current needs of this present day, as the fundamental issue is and should begin with a critical focus on content and users and not functions and applications. So where does that leave us in discussing the issues of impediment of the adoption of ICTs? Can we continue to perceive the digital divide merely an infrastructure issue as commonly discussed? Will we be able?
2 APDIP e-Note 13 - ICT Skill Development in the Asia-Pacific Region - Part one: the gap between demand and supply, Ravi Raina, 2007. 2 To fully utilize ICTs to achieve the MDGs if a personal computer and Internet was made available to everyone?
The departure point for critical discussion on the modalities of how ICTs can assist the MDGs must begin with the fundamental question of the development of relevant and adequate capacities of the citizens to fully leverage and capitalize on these new opportunities that ICT provides to these nations.
The main challenge across the region is less a matter of access and distribution of technology per se and more a matter of creating the enabling environment and capacity building efforts that will lead to `value' creation with ICTs for people, businesses and governments. The gap in opportunities occurring across and within countries is primarily due to differences in starting points; inaccessibility to technology and knowledge exchange; lack of appropriate policies and strategies; lack of infrastructure; and inhibiting social, cultural and linguistic factors. This digital gap does not seem to be narrowing if it is perceived from a capacity perspective.
AFRICA, ICT POLICY AND THE MILLENNIUM
DEVELOPMENT GOALS
Africa has a lot of catching up to do as far as the Information Society is concerned. With the physical boundaries that separated nations melting off due to the emergence of a boundless Information Society, any people-group, nation or region that does not line up with the expectations of the New Economy-which is primarily driven by Information and Communication Technologies - will experience lonely moments on the island of insignificance. This was well stated by Dr. Philip Emeagwali when he said, “Africa must get onboard… Right now! … Africa will be either on to the Information Age or off to the dark Agricultural Age … Africa is suffering from knowledge apartheid that forces its children to eat the crumbs from the dinner table of the information –affluent nations1.”
Africa’s active participation in the Information Society informs the need for each of the constituent nation to develop and implement national Information and
Communication Technology (ICT) policies (and strategies), with special consideration for meeting the goals of the United Nations Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs): which United Nations’ member States agreed to in order to address the major issues that confront human existence and sustainable development.
Africa Takes the First Steps
The African Information Society Initiative (AISI) is a common vision for Africa’s quest to bridge the digital divide. It was adopted by the United Nations
Economic Commission for Africa Conference of Ministers responsible for
Economic and social planning and development (Addis Ababa, 1996) and
Subsequently endorsed by various high-level Ministerial and Organization of
African Unity, Heads of States, and Governments’ meetings including the 1997 G-8 Summit. Its vision was revised during the African Development
Forum 1999.2
AISI serves as a mechanism for achieving the Millennium Development Goals in
Africa, incorporating seven of the eight MDGs in the AISI framework recommends the mainstreaming of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). This informed the strong support that the AISI gives to the development of national ICT policies and strategies through its National Information and Communication Infrastructure (NICI) plan, which helps nations link to national, regional and global development goals – including the Millennium Development Goals.
RECOMMENDATION
For this nation-Nigeria to fully leverage and capitalize on the tools and opportunities provided by ICTs in meeting her manpower planning with respect to millennium Development Goals, it is imperative that the strategic national ICT vision is grounded and built upon vision tempered by realism; planning hinged on adequate and coherent co-ordination, and adoption of localized solutions for localized challenges. The vision sets the stage and the agenda is defined by a strategic plan, followed by an action plan.
There are three aspects that need to be considered from a strategic planning standpoint. The first is the importance of maintaining a human development perspective and focusing on the achievement of benefits for people through the appropriate use of ICTs. The MDGs capture the most important objectives or outcomes sought from development initiatives from a human development perspective.
Having agreed on a people-centric approach, the second step is defining the process, agreeing on the steps involved, and managing this process.
A third aspect is the impact of changes in the international economy, on the diffusion of technology and of ICTs, in particular. This aspect has a strong bearing on the strategic ICT vision and agenda. Understanding the issues that affect access to ICTs is also important.
CONCLUSION
The ICT vision and strategy should focus on human capacity and not just on technology. For this to happen, it is important to develop both the ICT vision and strategy with the end users in mind and with the input of these very same target audience.
