Information technology as catalyst for awareness and engagement in the political process in Nigeria(3)

By Alban Ofili-Okonkwo
Today’s world which figuratively is cruising on the information super high way is indeed a throw back from the past. The history of civilization is strewn in many epochs that have come to redefine modern existence.

From the Stone Age when life was characterized by primitive existence, humanity has progressed into the Iron Age when subsistence living was the way of life to jet age which signpost modern civilization.

The supersonic age, which accentuated the best of modernity, is gradually yielding ground to the bio-digital age ruled by ideas, innovation, products and services that yield in return enormous wealth, accolades and fame.

The most notable example of this latter epoch is the inimitable Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft Corporation, whose windows software catapulted him to the apex of the world’s rich list.

Microsoft solidified its industry dominance in the mid-1990s by combining Windows with its other applications into “suites” and persuading leading computer makers to preload their software on every computer they sold. The strategy worked so well that by 1999 Microsoft was posting sales of $19.7 billion.

Gates personal wealth has grown into phenomenal $90 billion, a princely sum which is more than the total budget of six West African countries put together.

Such is the power of Information Technology and its weight in gold (dollars). But more than anything else, Information Technology remains a major tool and catalyst for ensuring increased public awareness and engagement in the political process, least of all places in Nigeria.

President Goodluck Jonathan has not only utilized Facebook to guage the pulse of Nigerians on certain actions of his government but was reported to have urged Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State among others to go on Facebook.

While the social network sites like Youtube, Facebook, Twitter etc serve some useful purposes, Nigeria’s quest for an ICT enhanced electoral process however makes it imperative for the country to indigenize by configuring for effective deployment its notable ICT tool, the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). At the last count there are about 80 million connected lines on the GSM platform, this implies that more than a half of the estimated 150 million Nigerians have access to the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) phones.

It therefore becomes incubent for the nation to utilize the mostly available Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) platform, unlike the Internet-based social network sites notably Facebook accessible to less than 10% of the Nigerian people, in driving the electoral process. This the nation could do through the establishment of special sites, channels and systems that will utilize Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) phones to enhance effective participatory democracy and accountable leadership.

My belief in the effectiveness of this model had persuaded me to establish three of such interactive sites namely; Talkbacknigeria.com.ng, Askthepresident.com.ng and informnigeria.com.

The first two have so far served as useful platforms for mass mobilization by way of greater awareness and enhanced engagement in the political process while the latter is being designed to help in making the leadership more accountable even at the highest level. It suffices to say that the Askthepresident.com.ng could also be constructed for and extended to governments at the state and local council levels.

Tellthepresident@talkback.com ; or more personally –  tellpreseidentjonathan@talkback.com;
tellpdp@talkback.com ;
tellactioncongress
@informnigeria.com ;
tellthegovernor@feedback.com;tellthelocalgovernment@informnigeria.com,Considering that the usage of voice and sms is far more prevalent in Nigeria than the Internet, my challenge to this body of fellows is to design and develop an indigenized social cum political interactive platform that will run on the back of the mobile telephone networks that is voice and SMS. I will personally sponsor the implementation of this initiative for use in the coming elections in 2011.

We all as Nigerians, have enormous responsibility to ensure the success of the electoral process and longetivity of the current democratic experience.

This can be achieved by the adroit use of the tools of Information Technology such as telephones, the Internet, etc. Giving the infrastructural challenges that Nigeria is grappling with, it will be a bit of a herculean task deploying Information Technology to achieve meaningful progress in the polity. However, the fact remains that a major path on which to fast track remarkable improvement in Nigeria’s electoral process is improved participation by way of increased awareness and engagement of all eligible (adult) Nigerians in the nation’s political process.

ICT is key to the achievement of this goal. And this august body is central to the achievement of this goal.
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen the ball, as the saying goes, is now in your court. Let us score this goal together for Nigeria!