Nkemdilim Uwaje is the Managing Director/ CEO of Future Software Resources Limited and a Board member of the Global Youth Summit Award. After the just concluded WSYA held at Graz Austria,  she told IT Journalists that Nigeria may not achieve Millennium Development Goals, (MDGs) unless the youths were engaged in software incubation. Excerpt:

You were at Graz Austria where the 2011 WSYA was held. Please tell us what the WSYA is about?

Yes indeed! It was amazing. The WSYA is a global online contest for e-content that is focused on implementing the Millennium Development Goals set by the UN in 2005. The WSYA is organised as a follow up activity of the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) and its action plan towards the year 2015.

The main objective is to select and promote best practice in e-Content. It demonstrates young people’s potential to create outstanding digital contents and serves as a platform for people from all UN member states to work together in the efforts to reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The WSYA has 6 categories including, Fight Poverty, Hunger and Disease, Education for All, Power to Women, Create your Culture, Go Green, Pursue Truth

Each year there are hundreds of entries from all over the world in the different categories. This year we had over 700 entries from over 90 countries…out of these entries an online jury consisting of industry experts and young change-makers selects 3 Winners and 2 Runners-up in each category…Both winners and runners-up are then invited to the Winner’s Event, which is always held somewhere else. In 2009 it was in Monterrey Mexico, in 2010 it was in New York, USA and this year it was in Graz, Austria.

What role did you play at the World Summit?

Yes I have been privileged to have Computers as play-mate since I was 9 years old. I got involved with the WSYA initiative since 2009. I met the founder and Chairman of the WSYA in 2008 at a conference in Ghana where we were both speakers. We exchanged cards and spoke and he told me about the WSYA and I instantly loved the project.

Early 2009 he emailed me and asked me whether I would like to promote the WSYA in Nigeria and be part of the online Jury. I accepted and was delighted about this great opportunity. Since 2009 I have been an ambassador and a jury member for the WSYA.

This year I was promoted to the status of board-member and I am still part of the Jury. I was also the moderator for the Gala Night where the winners received their certificates that were handed over by VIPs like the Deputy UN Secretary General Mr. Thomas Stelzer, Martina Roth from Intel, Jeffrey Hensley from the Internet Society (ISOC) etc.

Which of the MDGs is most important to you?

All of them! They are all interlinked and due to that they are all equally important, because one cannot be achieved without the other. We must engage our youths in software incubation so as to achieve MDGs. For example in order to eradicate poverty, hunger and disease it is important to educate the people affected by this and ensure that especially the women are empowered.

Another example – Caring for your environment often results in reduction of diseases, so we should never make one goal more important than the other. Indeed, the new interpretation of poverty is: Information poverty, education poverty, innovation poverty, creative poverty, knowledge poverty and their associated and interlinked layers.

Thank you that makes sense! So last year there was a winner and a runner up from Nigeria. Were there any Nigerians that won this year? If yes, what were their projects about?

:I am proud to say that there was a winner and a runner-up from Nigeria .Winner in the category Create my Culture: Mr. Olubodun Akinyele with the project Play My Jamz – www.playmyjamz.com

Runner-up in the Category Go Green: Mr. Femi Oye with the project End Kerosene Generation – 1 Milion Solar Latten. Their projects are both amazing and I am happy that they were able to rise so far up and Olubodun even got the chance to showcase his talents at the Winners Event in Graz.

Why were there not more winners from Nigeria?

Good questions! There were actually quite a few entries from Nigeria, but the quality of the projects or of the actual e-content was very very low. A lot of the contestants used old and outdated technology, which resulted in a look and feel that seemed very 1995. They will need intensive mentoring with logic-process tools to improve

Does this apply to only Nigerian project? How did African projects compare to projects from other parts of the world?

To be honest it is not only Nigeria. I saw huge discrepancies between projects from sub-saharan Africa and the rest of the world. The main issues were low quality, use of old/outdated technology, lack of innovation. There is need for special workshops focused on Technology Logics Thinking Process (TLTP) for the African Sub-Region. But nevertheless sub-saharan Africa was able to bring us Winners and Runners-up from Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and Zimbabwe.