FG, Key to Full Internet Connectivity

Post Express - Page 18
March 20, 1997

The Internet sprouted from what was then a national computer network project called ARPANET, which was under the control of the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), an agency within the United States Department of Defence. The first countries to be connected to the Internet outside the U.S were England and Norway in 1973, and it was mostly used by universities, polytechnics and research agencies. Now, there are over a hundred countries with full Internet connectivity out of which only 11 are from the African continent (with the exclusion of Nigeria).

 Developments on the Internet in recent times had been very rapid, making it the world’s most advanced medium of communication with an installed base of over 50 million computers users linked worldwide, and an approximate annual growth rate of 2000 percent. The Internet is by far the fastest growing segment in the information technology industry. Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, corroborated this fact when he said: “The surging popularity of the internet communications network is the most important single development in the computer industry since the IBM PC was introduced in 1981.” The Internet is no doubt the mother of modern communications encompassing sound picture and text. The Web earned its famous acronyms of WWW from this unique multi-media functionality.

 As we approach the new millennium, business planners and policy makers are exploiting new ways of gaining competitive business advantage, and seeking ways of improving the lives of the populace. This can be achieved largely by improved communication and information exchange and accessibility.

 The Internet has turned the world into a global village, pulling down barriers such as distance that hitherto separated countries. Information accessibility is just a mouse-click away, reducing transaction time around the globe to seconds, and at cost lower than ever. The Internet is in every way an economy in itself. Every aspect from its construction, content, communication tools, to the people that make use of it, are marketable commodities.

 In the words of Major General Sam Momah, the minister of Science and Technology, “Internet connectivity and all the benefits it would bring would help in the realization of the vision of technologically developed Nigeria by the year 2020.“ No doubt therefore that, every Nigerian is conscious of the importance of achieving full Internet connectivity. The big question is, Why Haven’t We? When other nations like Cote d’Voire, Zambia and Ghana have full Internet connectivity.

 Quite unexpectedly, the Minister of Communications Tajudeen Olanrewaju provided a startling answer to the question in a recent speech at a workshop organized by the Nigeria Internet Group (NIG) last September, when he urged Internet service providers to ensure that the services they offer were not used for obscene, seditious or anti-state purposes, and went on to say that they should not expect government support or funding.

 We need to re-examine closely, the key issues involved and resolve the problems dynamically. All expressions of fear on the part of the minister that the Internet may be used for obscene, seditious or anti-state purposes should be allayed. It is now practicable for countries to censor certain classified information from the Internet. China is a good example and they have recorded significant progress in this area.

 On the issue of support and funding that should not have arisen, because it is NITEL’s responsibility to provide the required telephone lines needed to operate the Internet functionally. ISDN lines or fibre optics cables are recommended for effective worldwide web connectivity. This forms the major reason why full Internet connectivity is in a stalemate. The issues of nodes and domain name are secondary. The NIG really requires little direct support or funding from the Federal Government. What they desire as a matter of necessity is NITEL’s ISDN lines or fibre optics cables laid in Abuja, Lagos sand Port Harcourt at lease as a pilot scheme.

 There is a lot of wisdom in Bill Gate’s statement when he said< “The Internet is like a tidal wave drowning those that do not learn to swim in its waters.”

Barcoding: Nigeria Needs it

Post Express - Page 17
March 13, 1997

Provided our public utilities fail to measure up to international standards, the question of national development will continue to face us. National development and technological advancement are closely related, and this inter-twinning relationship hinges primarily on information technology (IT). The slow pace of development in the country is not unconnected with our reluctant to wholly embrace modern technology policy.

The absence of a clear cut science and technology policy thrust in national development planning and implementation is responsible for the confusion and inefficiency that has continued to plague our public utilities such as electricity and water supplies, telecommunications, and transportation.

Banking and finance, trade and commerce, oil and gas, the mining sectors have continued to receive government priority attention. Science and technology, which is the main trust of industry, have suffered total neglect. Without the entrenchment of a sound science and technology policy, growth in all other sectors will be hindered, and inefficiency, ineffectiveness and wastefulness will continue to afflict our public utilities. The low performance of our public utilities comes as no surprise.

There are many fronts to advancing technological development in the country. One of the ways is by the implementation of a national bar-coding policy. Such a policy will expedite the introduction of computer business control systems in both the public and private sectors. Benefits derivable include; easy identification of persons and products, reduction in the use of cash in business transaction, and efficient and speedy inventory control.

Bar coding comprises labels, symbologies, standards, hardware, software, systems integration etc. Barcodes are symbols consisting of a series of bars and spaces, which can be applied to tube, cartons, bottles, packages, books, cards documents, and a number of other media.

The automatic identification industry’s primary focus on capturing information both quickly and accurately, provides the fastest and most effective means of gathering data that is vital for expedient business transaction. Bar-coding applications are embraced such industry segments as post and telecommunications, banking and finance, retails, manufacturing transportation healthcare, warehousing and distribution, shipping and receiving document processing and tracking and libraries.