7th December, 2011
As part of the motive to drive the nation’s economy towards achieving its fulfilment through the vision 20:2020, the School of Communication and Information Technology (ICT) of the Federal Polytechnic, Auchi, Edo State, has organised a conference to boost the actualisation of Nigeria’s vision in becoming one of the prominent nations with technological advancement.
The conference, which attracted dignitaries grounded in outstanding technological field, was tagged Information and Communication Technology: A Road Map For Achieving Vision 20:2020 and the chief host of the event was Dr. (Mrs.) Philipa Idogho, Rector of the institution, who gave the keynote address.
She affirmed that Nigeria can meet the goal of Vision 20:2020 in Information Communication Technology if all hands are on the deck.
In her address, she commended President Goodluck Jonathan and Edo State governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, for their remarkable effort in promoting Information Technology in the country by way of donating computers to various schools and institutions of higher learning to discourage computer illiteracy, which has affected the nation’s fame among its global contemporaries.
The lead paper was presented by Professor Chiemeke Stella from the Department of Computer Science, University of Benin (UNIBEN) and Dr. Okwechime Chudi, Dean, School of Business Studies, Delta State Polytechnic, Ogwashi-Uku.
According to Prof. Chudi, in mid-2011, Nigeria became the largest mobile market with over 90 million subscribers and currently ranking 104 out of 188 global ICT users.
He, however, lamented that the use of internet in Africa is basically on social networking such as facebook, twitter, yahoo and others, which many Nigerian youths are now fond of.
He also disclosed that illicit usage of the internet has killed the morale of students, both in secondary school and higher institutions as most students spell words in examinations with the abbreviations they use on facebook chat.
—Tosin Ajuwon, Auchi Poly