BY EMEKA  AGINAM

The Managing Director, Dragnet Solutions, one of the Nigeria’s leading people based screening and Computer Based Testing(CBT) solutions, Mr. Robert Ikazoboh has with optimism that national development can be achieved if the government invest in technology.

Ikazoboh in a media parley held last week in Lagos said though government has done well with respect to deploying technology to advance national development, more still needs to be done in order to sustain the pace of development.

“First we must give kudos to the government of the day because the authorities seem to realize the importance of technology. For example, if we look at the National Identification Number (NIN) project being championed by the National Identification Management Commission (NIMC), it is largely technology driven because the process will rely on biometrics.

“And then we have the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board adopting the Computer Based Testing in this year’s examination which is a first in its history. All of this is good but we believe that we can still do more because technology offers us so much,” he said.

Other areas, according to him that the government can deploy technology for better performance will include the education sector and the recruitment process in the public sector.

“Government should consider adopting E-recruitment especially in the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs). If we had deployed E-recruitment, we probably wouldn’t have had the recent controversies that trailed the recruitment process in MDAs. Dragnet Solutions has always maintained that the process is better, faster and most importantly, more credible than the manual mode of recruitment.” he said.

In the education sector, the Dragnet boss urged the government to adopt computer based testing in educational institutions across the country.

“I’ve said it before that JAMB deserves commendation for adopting the CBT exams. But we shouldn’t just stop there. We are in the technology age and we must begin to familiarize our students with the concept of ICT. The best way to do this is to introduce CBT in our schools especially the secondary and tertiary institutions. Don’t forget that the process also has its advantages because it is more efficient and credible. With CBT, issues like mercenaries will be a thing of the past and it is going to reduce examination malpractice to the barest minimum,” he said.