Africa has lagged behind in the socio-economic advances in the world, and thus lags behind in its ability to leverage the true potential in its resources (natural and human). There are a myriad of reasons for this, yet the inefficiencies in its systems are clearly a major reason.
It was usual in days gone by, that one had to learn and copy the steps that had led to success some where and to try to recreate the steps in order to replicate the success. This process wasn’t easy as communication and information was difficult and expensive.
Leapfrogging in a Global Village
Thankfully, we have been blessed with the advent of phenomenal changes in the dynamics of communication especially with the Internet making the world a global village and there by reducing communication costs, enhancing the amount and value of information available (and this too in many different ways) , and facilitating collaborative interaction.
Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) is a tool that, if strategically and properly understood and implemented, would allow Africa to leapfrog in its socio-economic development. It would increase efficiency and effectiveness, reduce operation costs across most if not all (industries), facilitate tremendous growth and developments in areas like health, education, tourism, public and private sector services etc.
Unfortunately, it seems that until now, Africa (West Africa at least) is failing to take advantage of this great phenomenon and thus would watch as the rest of the world advances at a pace that leaves West Africa in their shadows. The much often touted concept of bridging the digital divide is being turned on its head, the divide is growing wider and wider.
Lip Service
Across the continent, there is more lip service to the adoption of ICT than actual commitment to seeing it being implemented for the good of the people at large. It seems that the lip service is motivated more by the knowledge that ICT is a priority for donors and that touting it would let the donor funds flow. This dependency frame of mind that African leaders seem to be best at, would do little for proper growth and development of their countries and people.
What is needed at the moment is dedicated commitment by the leaders in African countries to leave no stone unturned in an effort to leverage the benefits that ICT can offer. President Kigame of Rwanda and his government are leading the way in this regard, a strategy that other African leaders should do well to adopt. African governments must do all they can even if it means needing to legislate to have the basic minimum implementation. This basic minimum must for example ensure that all government agencies implement ICT means of delivering their service (of course within infrastructural capacity and within budget).
The idea of legislating systems into being is not new, many governments around the world have achieved the swift implementation of ICT to serve the public by instituting some form of penalty for units that fail to meet implementation deadlines.
By whatever strategy African governments will succeed, it is imperative that they take advantage of ICT to reduce cost, and increase the quality of services. What government in Africa cannot find uses for every penny saved? Let’s look at a few ways ICT can save us something.
Benefits
Take fuel, a commodity that all governments spend significant amounts of their budget on. Proper adoption of ICT will reduce transaction costs, by reducing the physical journeys that its population makes just to achieve results that can otherwise be achieved without moving an inch i.e. paying utility bills, going to the bank to make a transfer, sending a letter or documents to others etc. Many of the errands that are currently run can be eliminated by proper implementation of ICT. In the UAE, paying for your post office box is cheaper when you pay online rather than going to the Post Office. Of course a secondary benefit derived from eliminating these errands is the time that is saved and that can be channeled to more productive ventures.
Take brain drain in the health sector (it can as well be applied to other sectors) which has and is depriving our countries of qualified health personnel. Given that there is little we can do about that today, and that we do not have enough of them to go around, we can resort to ICT to at least reduce the adverse effects of this drain by creating a knowledge base using experts and making this available via telecommunications to areas where there is a dearth qualified personnel so that the available personnel can be helped to deliver quality service that they otherwise could not offer, of course the other possibility is to let experts aid in medical processes from afar. Used like this and there are many extensions to these possibilities, Africa would be to raise it overall standard of living by being more efficient and effective with its scarce resources.
In the area of the general economy, there is a lack of appropriate strategies to leverage ICT for enhancing productivity. The universities – the base of our future human resources do not have sufficient computers and networks (either LAN or WAN) to get around, offices and cafes a linked to networks with speeds that allow connectivity at snails pace – making commerce first of all and also just simple sharing of files difficult. Generally, the concept of Service Level Agreements do not really exist, so the population at large is generally being defrauded by telecom companies and the regulatory bodies are ill equipped to deal with these problems. Thus the inefficiencies in our existing ICT dynamics leave a lot to be desired.
Collective Awareness
It is understood that our infrastructure is not developed like those of developed countries, but it is exactly because of this that, if we want to develop, we must make the existing capacity of what we have deliver at its highest potential, we cannot afford to make the infrastructure work for us.
All things considered, it is important that if Africa is to get the best out of its true potential, its governments must ensure that they maximize the potential that ICT can contribute to development. This they can do my leading the way by both communicating their belief in the promise of ICT and showing dedication to have it implemented – through actually following through with actual deliverables on ICT.
Businesses and other civic bodies must also contribute their quota to ensure that they promote ICT the best they can. Our populations must also be educated on ICT so that they are aware and can take advantages of opportunities presented by ICT when they become available.
If there is collective awareness and interest in taking ICT seriously, Africa can go along way to enjoy some of the benefits enjoyed in other parts of the world without having to do as much is those people did before getting to enjoy those benefits – as it were we would leapfrog to those benefits.
