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In September, 2002, on the 26th and 27th to be exact, there was a conference at the Goethe Institut in Lagos organized by the Goethe Institut and the Information Technology Association of Nigeria (ITAN) with the theme "IT and the Nigerian Youth: A Window to the World". This conference surprisingly, was by invitation only and the proceedings of the conference were never made public. The only thing that was made public was the advert announcing the conference.
When a conference with a theme apparently concerning youth is organized and made "strictly by invitation," is anybody expecting the youth to be appropriately represented at such a gathering? Of course not!
Youth empowerment as we are made to believe going by the constant reiterations of the federal government, is on the A-list of government priorities as can be seen in the general objectives of the Nigerian National IT Policy where it is stated clearly that the policy is "to empower the youth with IT skills and prepare them for global competitiveness."
The government of the day has clearly not started on this mission as it prefers rather unfortunately to spend taxpayers' money on "hosting beauty queens," building unnecessary stadiums, mansions for visiting dignitaries and bidding for hosting of sports events which we will ultimately lose on our home soil because of lack of preparedness.
All these, though possessing great opportunities for the tourism industry in Nigeria do not really translate into significant financial returns for our dear country in the long run.
The government is however not only to blame in this quagmire of poor ICT development in which we find ourselves. The Nigerian youth themselves are also to blame. Our youth nowadays are sadly characterized by a rapidly diminishing mental and intellectual capacity and increased dependence on physical affectations, violence, lust and cheap discarded pleasures of the western world.
Just visit any secondary school sporting event to get a feel of what I am talking about. All these including cultism, armed robbery, prostitution, mass failures in examinations due to laziness and other vices on our own part surely would have contributed to the lethargic attitude of the government at the center towards youth development especially in ICT because ICT requires massive funds injection and if the government keep seeing the kind of Makossa-obsessed youths that we are continually breeding in this country, it can seek to justify its lethargy towards empowerment of the youth as it could be seen as bad investment.
From experience I have discovered that as much as 70% of our university and polytechnic graduates do not know how to use a computer! Even in cases where the opportunities abound. Another one of the objectives of the Nigerian national IT Policy is "to build a mass pool of IT-literate manpower using the NYSC, NDE and other platforms as "Train The Teacher" scheme (TTT) for capacity building." Sadly, this is not in effect. I should know because I finished my NYSC programme recently and all through the orientation period and the service year, there was nothing like IT training! It would be a very good idea if this part of the IT policy and in fact, all other objectives are vigorously pursued without further recourse to lip service. The youth of this country deserve better.
I must say that while the IT policy of Nigeria is wonderful on paper, much needs to be done concerning the actualization of the objectives and pursuance of the vision in practical terms. Also, for any meaningful empowerment to come the way of Nigerian youth in ICT, the youth must have a say in the IT affairs of this country as it concerns us. The youth too are also strongly advised to focus more on intellectual development instead of chasing after bodily pleasures. I know that if we can demonstrate total commitment to the vision statement of the Nigerian IT policy and work assiduously towards the attainment of its objectives, only then can Nigeria dream of moving from the league of developing nations to that of developed nations.
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Well I am a lover of poems. I do them when I am in a bad and good mood of life. I am a student here in Nigeria studying computer education.
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Can we not... Akinbo, Adebunmi Adeola | Oct 25th, 2006
...see Nigeria written on it.
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