Date Published: 01/28/10

A Sustainable ICT Paradigm for Bayelsa State By James Sokari-Whyte 

In his 2006 eponymous book on Modern Flat-Earthism, Thomas Friedman identifies “ten forces that flattened the world:” the triumph of capitalism and the PC-driven information revolution; the rise of the Internet and the dot-com bubble (an investment spree that serendipitously resulted in a glut of cheap fiber-optic capacity); productivity, workflow and collaboration software; the rise of the intellectual commons; outsourcing; the growth of China as a manufacturing superpower; advanced supply-chain technologies; FedEx and UPS, and their many “in-sourcing” services; sophisticated Internet search engines; and the increasing ubiquity of digital devices. 

The power of these flattening forces lies in their combined ability to promote economic growth, whether in industrialized or developing markets. Growth is driven by the major sectors of an economy that increase overall wealth—the manufacturing and service engines that create jobs, grow personal income levels, generate exports, and increase gross domestic product (GDP). And a powerful accelerator of economic growth is increased productivity—the ability to produce more wealth from each unit of resources. Productivity gains enable companies to raise wages without raising prices, thereby creating real, non-inflationary income growth. 

The on-going ICT revolution, combined with the forces of globalization, has provoked the hopes and fears of countries at all levels of development, to leapfrog to the new economy, or be left out of the loop. A growing number of developing countries has been inspired by the success stories of fast growing exports of ICT services from a diverse group of countries such as Singapore, India, Taiwan, China, Korea, Malaysia, Ireland, Israel, and Finland. Similarly, the European Union countries have been inspired by the dynamism and productivity increases of the US economy in the 1990s, and the emergence of the so called new economy or knowledge economy. As a result, the response of many governments is to formulate national ICT policies and strategies, where ICT is treated mainly as a sector or industry. Therefore, the strategic significance of ICT for enabling national development and poverty reduction strategies must be understood and operationalized by States striving to gain a competitive edge.  

The current ICT 'revolution' has been widely hailed as the enabling force for developing countries to become more active participants in the global economy. Institutions like the United Nations and World Bank support the creation and funding of ICT strategies to help such countries leapfrog stages of economic development. In many ways, India has been the poster child for ICT for development enthusiasts since the early 1990s. In 1998, the Indian government set targets for the country's software exports at US$50 billion by 2008, and made 45 recommendations on the direct use of information technology to achieve development and literacy objectives. This policy focus has unleashed a flurry of activity, with one observer estimating that there are currently over 50 grassroots projects using ICT in the service of India's downtrodden poor.  

Sub-Saharan Africa is a passive bystander in the global 'knowledge economy' race. In this race, success hinges on a country's capacity to develop and apply tacit knowledge to production systems, resulting in wealth creation and an enhanced quality of life. This race is currently led by four regions, called knowledge engines, namely, the European Union, East Asia, India and the USA. However, China, Brazil and others are making quiet strides as contenders. Africa's quest to join the race is crippled by complex problems which, arguably, are best solved through the adoption of modern knowledge systems and tools. Africa can join the race only through pragmatic regional and global initiatives and resources, which would assist the region to develop the capacity to acquire the knowledge needed to pursue sustainable development. 

Bayelsa State, despite its abundant resources in oil and gas falls within the category of the most underdeveloped states in Nigeria. Paradoxically, the population is estimated at less than 2 million people. This bad statistics has been attributed to various factors by both critics and analysts. Chiefly among these factors include the difficult terrain ‘hypothesis’ which attributes slow infrastructural development pace the swampy mangrove environment. Essentially, watchers believe the above alibi is quiet obsolete to pass for government inefficiency over the years. 

Over the years, succeeding administrations failed to formulate a strategy document that could serve as blueprint for human capital and infrastructural development of the state, world trend has gone knowledge based and government policies are tilted towards neo-liberal economic paradigms and globalization. e-Governance is a democratic practice that is gradually gaining universal acceptance and applicability. It refers to a governmental type aimed at achieving effective service delivery from government to citizens, moving governance from traditionalist bureaucratization to modernist participatory administration. 

The Timipre Sylva administration established the Due Process and e-Governance Bureau to ensure the entrenchment of global best practices in the part of all government departments, enabling Sustainable Development through the integration of ICT solutions state-wide; and ensuring that the state sustainable development strategy is properly and adequately deployed. The objectives of the Bureau are to improve good governance, including transparency, accountability and civil society participation in governance by the deployment of e-Governance Strategies and technologies. However, a recent interim report on performance ranking of Ministries & Parastatals in Bayelsa State conducted by the Niger Delta Integrity Groupscored the e-Governance Bureau lowest in terms of accountability and responsiveness to the people’s needs. The report described the Due Process Unit as a Delay Process manned by people with very mean pedigree. The Due Process and e-governance Unit needs an overhaul to reposition ICT in the State both as a facilitator of governance and wealth creator.

In an increasingly knowledge-based global economy, being able to leverage information more effectively is especially important to improving productivity. Today, economic competitiveness depends on the ability to transform vast quantities of information into usable knowledge; defined as “information combined with experience, context, interpretation, and reflection… a high-value form of information that is ready to apply to decisions and actions,” and to deploy it effectively across organizations, market ecosystems and economies. Insights from this demonstrate that ICT can play a central and powerful role in increasing productivity and growth—that have influenced a wide range of government policies, development agendas and businesses. 

A study by the Research Institute of the Finnish Economy IN 2003, found that the additional productivity of ICT-equipped workers ranges from 8% to 18%. And a 2002 OECD study of three member countries (Denmark, Japan and the U.S.) found that corporate investment in networked computer systems is consistently associated with increased productivity - for example, productivity in U.S. manufacturing plants that have computer networks is 11% higher. ICT also impacts the economy in other ways. For instance, a 2002 U.S. Department of Commerce study found that industries using ICT more intensively than average contribute less than half as much to the annual inflation rate than those industries that are less ICT-intensive than average. 

The ICT industry itself also has a significant impact on growth - one that far outweighs other industry sectors. Another study paper in 2005 found that, from 2001 to 2004, the U.S. ICT industry increased its contribution to GDP three times faster than other goods and service-producing industries. In 2004, for example, those goods and service-producing industries raised their real value-added by 3.1% and 5.1% respectively, while the ICT group saw a 14.7% increase. Keying into such success stories do not require aliens to be actualized, rather, Bayelsa technocrats could borrow knowledge from India, China and the Asian Tigers to join the group of knowledge economies that drive the present ICT ‘revolution’.  

From the United States to Cape Verde, governments around the world have embraced  ICT and the internet in particular as a way of mainstreaming public policy decisions and processes, while providing citizens with greater and easier access to government services. Increased information flows between the public and private sectors and the citizens have improved transparency, and accountability and established an environment of trust and reliability between citizens and elected officials in many parts of the world. Moreover, many Ministries responsible for ICTs and modernization initiatives have realized the importance of a clear national strategy for becoming part of the global information society and narrowing the gaps between the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’. UN MGD Vision 

E-governance also allows governments to participate in business transactions in a more profitable manner. That is why it is increasingly finding favour with governments across the world. Communication between the various government departments improves, information sharing is much better which aids governance, business transactions, and stimulates the growth of a new economy. Government organizations need administrative support and a go ahead from state and federal departments; in order to obtain this they need to first convince the bureaucracy of the benefits of E-governance. Legacy systems need to be incorporated into the E-governance infrastructure.

Good governance is thus one of the key requirements of development. ICT can support good governance by improving the effectiveness and efficiency of governments; enhancing the delivery of critical public services; making public administrations more attuned to the needs of citizens; improving transparency and accountability; fostering citizen's access to public and official information; enhancing citizens participation in the public policy process; and improving inclusion and participation of all stakeholders in good governance processes. Our central e-Governance programme is focusing on awareness-rising among politicians and central government decision makers on most important and non-technological issues e-Government. ICT and e-governance helps to build trust and accountability in a democratic setting and contribute to economic growth. E-governance models are built around objectives that include better use of information, quicker dissemination of information, transparency in government-people transactions, and creating services that cover as broad a spectrum of society as possible. States to

Science and technology development is increasingly driven by the requirements of a globalization. ICTs support this globalization process, and provide opportunities to participate in it. However, the process of development is not uniformed. Within nation states and within regions there is considerable inequity in the scale and pace of development. Successful science and technology policies require an understanding of location within a global production network and of local capabilities. Bayelsa State should go beyond rhetoric and invest massively in ICT for job creation and above truism makes it imperative for Bayelsa State government to mobilize its post-amnesty resources to integrate the state into mainstream global ICT player. 
 

James SoKari Whyte, wrote from Port Harcourt