Over the years, increasing challenges of development has remained daunting for most developing countries, particularly as the world moves towards a global information society. Over the last century in particular, developing countries, most of which fall within Africa, have had to grapple with the overwhelming need for effective political leadership and simultaneously attempt to reverse declining economic fortunes. Furthermore, political crisis in varying manifestations greatly undermined economic reforms and social restructuring aimed at raising the standards of living of the people. New discoveries in information and communication technologies have been found to have a high potential in advancing human development and equally accelerate restructuring processes. The gains accruable from an IT-led economy are immediate and could serve as a platform for spontaneous growth. Increased production of goods and services; flexibility of production processes and increased labour efficiency are some of its immediate rewards. An effective knowledge-management system would, no doubt, be highly beneficial to a growing economy like Nigeria. Increasingly, the value of knowledge has grown over decades relative to other factors of production. Knowledge, today, has become a veritable denominator for economic growth and prosperity. For most developing countries, some of which has survived the misfortunes of war, profound ethnic conflicts or economic alienation for that matter, the process of moving from ‘economies in transition’ into ‘knowledge economies’ has been difficult. The high cost of providing structures for information creation and management has further accentuated this position. The concept of economic dynamism states that more knowledge creates more wealth, not only does knowledge help in generating economic wealth, it also stimulate social growth and, to a reasonable degree, social cohesion. Social capital therefore, would be a product of sound social structure.Evidently, scientific and technological innovation through genetic engineering and biotechnology have helped developed countries to expand, for instance, food production through improved seedling, discovery of environmental-friendly fertilizers, production of high breeding species of livestock etc. Since opportunities offered by globalization and information technology are apparently unequally distributed, the task of socio-economic reconstruction and growth in a country like Nigeria has become even more intimidating. The liberalization of the political space through the enthronement of a fledging democracy is expected to induce a high level of economic activity which should exploit the prevalence of economic freedom. It is worthy to stress that poverty is not limited to economic misfortunes alone but is also a function of stunted social evolution and obvious dearth of knowledge or its inadequacy. The poverty of knowledge in itself is more devastating and can frustrate meaningful reforms. To this end, the effort of Nigerian government to alleviate the poverty situation of the people could be sustained if encapsulated within a profound and comprehensive ideology using information and communication technologies (ICTs) as a springboard.
Equally, to meet the challenges of a growing economy like Nigeria, the imperative of wholesome education cannot be sufficiently stressed. Government must invest heavily in qualitative education for the youths, who are the successor generation. This is with a view of building a pool of successive, highly-skill and dynamic workforce. Since institutional and cultural changes occur more quickly, the system must be entrenched in an enduring relationship between knowledge creation and socio-economic paradigms that will identify generational relevance. It is also important for government to develop favourable policy outline to protect and nurture research institutions which has been in the doldrums since independence. Government should put in place vibrant policies that will enhance their status and relevance while equally drawing from their documented and well-researched findings.
Furthermore, the coupling of defective institutional structures and the absence of a comprehensive data bank has impaired proper and effective planning strategies. Of course, these deficiencies would have serious consequences on the growth of any economy; in spite of government’s determination to encourage foreign investments into the country, and, at the same time, support local industries in their effort to rise to the challenges of economic growth within a liberalized global economy. Adequate checks and balances should be put in place to monitor and encourage the inflow of venture capital investment which, particularly, has high yielding capacity to quicken economic development. Alongside this, the imperative for public-private partnership for the development of a profound ICT-base economy must be encouraged and supported by government.It is worrisome to note that in spite of the vast natural and human resources which Africa possesses internally, there exists an unbelievable quanta of intellectual wealth trapped in the collective personalities of her peoples in diaspora. These intellectual assets have in one way or the other contributed immensely to the development of advanced economies where they reside. Recently, it has been discovered that no fewer than 25,000 Nigerian medical doctors are resident in the United States of America alone. NASA, and other scientific institutions scattered over the globe also have at least two or more Nigerians at the top echelon of these important bodies. According to the United States Census Bureau, Nigerians are the most educated ethnic groups in America. On the whole, one out of every three African university graduates lives and works outside of Africa. This community of intelligentsia can assist in the training and capacity-building of their people and assist government in formulating vibrant technological policies. It is equally disturbing to note that Africa spends about $4 billion yearly to pay salaries for at least one hundred thousand foreign experts. Half of these monies could be used to build supporting structures that would be headed by African professional minds.
However, government must be mindful that even within its own domain, the likelihood of creating a ‘knowledge divide’ exist. This may be accentuated by income inequality, unequal access to education, and other economic constraints that may hamper the acquisition of knowledge tools; like a personal computer or access to the Internet.
Today, information and communication technologies have increased the prospects of business and other interpersonal interactions through e-commerce, tele-medicine, distance education and even governance. Contemporary democracy is driven by access to information, knowledge and capacity for effective communication and participation.
To these and other emerging challenges, Nigeria must rise if we must leave the valley of ignorance and enter into the new age of knowledge enterprise.
‘Femi Johnson [NEPAD Youth]
E-mail: oluwafemi7@yahoo.com
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