BY IKENNA ASOMBA
Adekunle Ajayi is a 24- year-old final year student of Computer Engineering in one of the country?s Polytechnics. He sat for an examination of a compulsory course in his department, and was confident of the outcome of his paper even before the release of results. This, he claimed, was as a result of the painstaking study and preparations he had ahead of the D-day.
But unfortunately for Ajayi, when the result was released, his name was missing out in the final result sheet of the said course pasted on his department?s notice board. This was attributed to a popular clich? in tertiary institutions known as Missing Script.
Perhaps, because of the paper-riddled system in operation across all Nigerian tertiary institutions, including Ajayi?s, he had a compulsory extra year, because his examination script could not be found either by act of commission or omission.
File Photo: Cross section of students writing exam
It is worrisome that this scenario plays out in various tertiary institutions across the country as a result of the paper system in operation. This brings to the fore, the fact that there?s need for our tertiary institutions, including corporate organisations and government agencies to embrace at least a 50 per cent paper-based and paperless operations respectively.
However, one major concern which experts say largely contributes to this is the fact that? broadband and internet access by most Nigerians is poor. It is against this backdrop that Telecom Answers Associates (TAA), a leading telecommunication consulting firm in collaboration with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), brought together information technology experts, academics and captains of industry to chart a way forward towards the accessibility of an expanded broadband system, which will make internet services available to all Nigerians in the not too distant time, just like it?s a common-place in developed countries of the world.
Present at the event were the Honorable Minister of Communication Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson; Dr. Eugene Juwah, Executive Vice-Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission; Abdullahi Maikano, Director/Secretary, USPF; Engr. Titi Omo-Etu, Coordinator, Broadband Expansion Programme (BbExPro) and Coach Sam Obafemi, Process Consultant, Barnabas House, among others.
Speaking to Quadlife after the three-day event tagged ?Broadband Expansion Programme Business Workshop,? one of the speakers, Dr. Olunifesi Adekunle Suraj (PhD), a lecturer at the Department of Broadcasting & Communication Technology of the Lagos State University-Adebola Adegunwa School of Communication, asserted that if all or most of the targets set and solutions proffered by experts at the event are immediately and religiously put into the scheme of things by government and other relevant agencies, every Nigerian will have easy access to the internet soonest, noting that the opportunities of this achievement cuts across the academic, industrial, agriculture and political environment.
According to Suraj, ?The issue? of broadband is that it?s more of internet access. How can the internet be made accessible to everybody. In this age of multi-media, if the broadband is not enough, downloading something from the internet will be very difficult. Broadband also makes people using smart phones, i-pads and other various applications have easy and efficient use of the internet.
?This broadband majorly deals with data. So, in this age of ICT, the question is, how do you build enough broadband capacity that will handle data efficiently. As various schools, corporate organizations and government agencies are going paperless, how do we achieve all these. This brings about the need for huge investments for an expanded and efficient broadband capacity,? he said.
Continuing, he reiterated that ?there must be a huge investment in broadband infrastructure and content to ameliorate the traffic congestions that makes accessibility to the internet tedious in Nigeria.?
He, however, raised the pertinent issue that the major problem to be encountered towards achieving this great feat is that ?after these cables have been laid through the sea, how do you bring it to the landmine distribution, which has to go through urban centres, towns and villages across the country, so that everybody can have access to the internet.
?It is on this premise that I was called upon to talk about the business environment and content delivery. How people can invest in broadband capacity to make internet access available to all. What I did was to come up with various options, different infrastructures and content opportunities in Nigeria that people can invest in towards achieving the distribution and accessibility of internet services for all in the country.?
Asked whether this landmark project could be achieved before 2015, set aside by UNESCO to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), especially as it relates education for all, food for all and free medical health care, the don averred: ?Infact, the main gist of this project is how Nigeria can use ICT to achieving the MDGs particularly in the fight against poverty, unemployment and illiteracy. If Nigeria?s broadband capacity is expanded and there is distribution of internet cables to all parts of the country, employment opportunities will be massively created across the country.
?There would no longer be influx of people from rural communities to urban communities, because this project will encourage the creation of self employment, as people can now go into operation of cafes, business centres, football viewing centres, setting up community newspapers, access and transfer of funds will be made easy, people can act as mobile payment or what we now know as e-wallet agents, even they can produce their own farm implements bringing about UNESCO?s ?Food for All? with this in place.?
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