By Adekunle Adekoya
THE Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) last month, from July 26 to July 30 held its 23rd National Conference, with the theme, Realizing a Stable Democratic Political System in Nigeria: IT Tools and Strategies in Asaba, the Delta State capital. On the sidelines of the summit, time was taken off for a dialogue with the Delta State Commissioner for Science and Technology, Hon. Tony Akpomiemie.

AKPOMIEMIE

The conversation took place in his ministry’s offices in Asaba, during which he disclosed that Delta State, through his ministry has not just automated government operations, but is steadily making schoolchildren computer literate while at the same time developing biotechnology initiatives to boost crop yield in the agricultural sector. Excerpts:

Let’s have an overview of your activities as commissioner in charge for science and technology in Delta State in this age of information and communication technology.

Thank you very much for this question, first and foremost, you should know it is actually not a full fledged ministry. It came into being in the year 2007 with the coming of this government and was carved out from several ministries. Part of it came out from Ministry of Commerce and Industry, part of it came out from what formerly was called Ministry of Finance because that is where we have Project e-Delta.

Project e-Delta is a kind of innovation in government operations. The idea is to make all government financial transactions to be complete in such a way that this idea of handling files and other things will be a thing of the past.

What we do here really is that all financial transactions are computerized and very soon, we will be talking about directing it to bank fee payment where we will be doing away with paper work, cheques and things like that. So, we are really talking e-governance. We started with the then Ministry of Finance, which later became Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning.

The idea started during the tenure of Governor James Ibori. As I  told you, this ministry was created in the year 2007, courtesy of the incumbent Governor; we are saddled with the responsibility of ICT — Information and Communications Technology. We have an outfit very close to Ogbe-Ogonogo Market, where we handle activities related to computer and things like that. Coming to other areas of our operation, we are into biotechnology.

It has to do with use of biological precesses to increase agricultural yield. You find out that in most of the advanced world, people are gradually moving away  from the conventional way of trying to produce more foods for consumers.

We are actually talking about genetic engineering. It is also part of our functions; we will encourage people to go into production of machines to meet the standard of engineering practice.
Do you have any ICT programmes running in the educational sector?

We have actually started that. Government is trying to make all secondary school students in Delta State computer literate, and this programme started last year; we called it Computer Literacy Programme.

We started it last year and for now, we felt that there is need to start with those in SSS I to SSS III. We have observed that most of our students in year one of higher institutions lack basic knowledge of computer, and we are thinking that it is proper for students at the secondary school level to be computer literate just before they enter university.

For this reason, we started last year, and we have trained over 130,000 students drawn from 450 secondary schools in the state. We have also taken delivery of the first batch of computers, we sent to the public schools. We are also on the verge of taking the delivery of the second batch.

That will translate to about 26,092 pieces of desktops. The idea is that each school should have a minimum of two computers. Also, I was directed to work in collaboration with the commissioner for basic  and secondary education with the hope of seeing how best those computers will affect the lives of these students.

To this end, we are thinking that it will be not be enough to provide these computers in schools, when you do not have competent teachers. We are actually thinking of moving the level of teaching of computer to a level, where all the schools will have a minimum of two teachers that will handle the computer aspect of the curriculum.

The state government also as part of a Pilot programme is trying to install internet facilities in some of the secondary schools. The idea is that at the end of the day, all the secondary schools will get connected with internet facilities. However, we have already selected some schools from each of the senatorial districts. I’m sure before this year runs out, that will come into being.

What are the direct interventions of the state in the state education system, with particular reference to the benefits?
First and foremost, we are in ICT world, and today virtually everything is done online.

Students who write UME now begin by filling the form online. If a student is asked to fill a form online and he/she starts wondering how to go about it, that is not in our best interest. E_learning with computer will definitely reduce the level of hazards people face moving from one place to another.

Even the cost of transportation is also reduced with online services and that is another advantage. And again, the entire world today is going ICT, why must Delta state lag behind? We must be at the forefront. Anambra and Lagos state are doing it as well as some other states. For me, the benefits are enormous.

We are exposing ourselves to the entire world because the benefits are many. We are in a market where we can’t be left out because for you to get any employment, you must be computer literate. Apart from normal complaints we know that everybody have, that is a priority. If you are not computer liberate it becomes a problem.

You are talking about distribution of computers to schools and internet facilities to the students, how about the issue of broadband, the availability of internet services in the rural areas because you will discover that even in the capital city here, it is not every where that you can easily access the internet.

The issue of broadband once came up in our executive council meeting. The idea is that we are working with some corporate bodies to address that. We want to pick up a pilot programme; they have come in to install their equipment.

The state government will subscribe to their services and encourage other users to subscribe too. We are on it right now, and within a couple of months, everything will fall in place. To tell you the interest of government in ICT, the government this year budgeted N1b in the current budget for the establishment of an ICT Park. This is to be located in a place not far from the airport. The aim is that the state government will be in partnership with the private sector. The government is also looking at the private sector having more shares, so that at the end of the day, government participation will be minimal, even though the starting point will be done by government. We are just moving into the site to have the place cleared. It has been surveyed and also, we have engaged a contractor to work out the blueprint.
Are there specific public private partnerships you have entered into to make this wok, by way of involving the operators?

People have actually showed interest — from the oil industry, the banking industry, ICT and so many others. But I will like you to talk about the impact of these business. What matters most in teaching the students computer is how to fish and at the end of the day, they don’t need to beg for fish again if the state government can come out this way to teach them how to be IT compliant.

What are the measurable benefits you can give from the ongoing computerization programme of government operations, talking about e_payment, automation against the old file system?

The benefits are numerous. For instance, it reduces a lot of bottlenecks. It cuts paper work in offices. For instance, you do not need to go to Accountant-General to pick your pay cheque; money is wired straight into your bank account at the end of the month. Even those awarded contracts, the same system is going to limit the case of people moving from one place to another.

It is actually a big advantage because with that, yo do not need anybody to come and give information to you. You will simply find it yourself; you can also give and receive information at any time, within a twinkle of an eye, instead of moving physically to the cabinet to check for information.

How can your government use ICT as an instrument of mass mobilization as far as Delta youths are concerned, knowing fully well that the youths in the state are a very active size of the population just like in other states of the country?

All we are doing is to make Delta state an electronic state, whereby everybody will do his transaction electronically. not just the civil servants but the entire sectors both private and public sector. With the initiative, like they say, charity begins at home. You can’t give out what you do not have.

So, the government took a very bold step to concentrate on the public sector and by extension with the SAB initiative programme in secondary schools, we are now digressing further to capture them young so that by the time get the tertiary institutions, they would have gained a lot of experience.

They did said it that train one person, he will train others. In fact the best people to train is the children because the level of their assimilation is very fast.

I f you train them at that level, you will be giving them a sound foundation.Targeting the students and those in the public service takes care of the formal sector, what about the informal sector.