10 insights into 40 years of digital development - ITREALMS

ITREALMS:

The Information Technology (IT) specialist at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Donatella Mori, has shared some 10 insights on how the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) that works.

Here are some reflections on the 10 things learnt over 40 years in computing technology for the FAO:

1.    Finding a sense of joy in helping others and making their life quality better by providing IT support to the FAO colleagues in their daily work as Statisticians and Agricultural Technicians as wells as Food Safety Experts in fulfilling the FAO mission to eliminate hungry and malnutrition in the poor countries

2.    The “how can I help you” mindset oriented towards customer support which has always been my every day mantra

3.    The passion for the technology and the innovation. As Steve Jobs concluded his speech at Standford quoting “Stay Hungry Stay Foolish” and as the actor Tom Hiddleston said, “stay hungry, stay foolish, stay young, stay curious” … and I would add for us older IT generations, “Stay open to the younger generations”

4.    The habit of considering change as the most stable aspect of my work life and personal life.

5.    The beauty of having UN guiding principles for my work, and striving to always adhere to them.

6.    The sadness sometimes of not reaching the expected results, but the willing of never give up if that implies a better service and life quality for others.

7.    The sense of being part of the world through communication technology and the UN community, and how the “world is small “ – different countries, different culture, but the same emotions and human behaviors.

8.    The consciousness by personal experience that gender diversity and within that the contribution of women’s perspective not only empowers the UN capacity to achieve results through IT, but, if I’m allowed to play with words, “make IT work better”

9.    The positive adrenaline of taking calculated risks in particular when experimenting something new in IT, and recognizing that the biggest risk is not taking any risk. “In a world that’s changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks,” says Mark Zuckerberg

10. The sense of duty of not wasting the resources generously offered by the UN Donors

Courtesy: ICTworks.

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Kazaure reiterates Galaxy Backbone drive for digital Nigeria

ITRealms:

The Managing Director and Chief executive officer (CEO) of Galaxy Backbone Limited, Mr. Yusuf Kazaure, has reiterated the commitment of the infrastructure company to drive the Nigeria’s digital development, reports ITRealms.

Speaking at the 14^th Innovation Africa Digital (IAD) Summit 2016 which held in Abuja recently, Kazaure said that the determination of the company under his watch is to attain emerging market leader on the African continent.

“We are fully conscious of the need to be in the vanguard of Nigeria’s digital growth especially within the public sector. Over the years, we have made significant investments in human and technological resources based on our vision to be the leading enabler of digital inclusion in Africa” he said.

Kazaure told the audience at the summit that harnessing Africa’s digital growth was a key challenge facing African leaders, both in government and business, hence, there was the need for high-level dialogue that would draw attention to the nature of decisions and actions necessary for the digital transformation of the continent for a better future.

He, therefore, challenged policy makers, regulators, service providers, solutions providers and ICT experts on the continent to leverage the huge investments already made in ICTs to innovate and induce organic growth in Africa.

Kazaure pointed out that Galaxy Backbone Ltd, established in 2006 currently has over 350 Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) connected to its 1-GOV.Net in over 4,000 office locations nationwide, thus making it the largest single network ever-developed in the public sector in Africa.

“It is even more noteworthy that Galaxy Backbone’s 1-GOV.NETinitiative – a common network infrastructure platform - was benchmarked on global best practices and the company emerged in the 2013 United Nations Public Service Award as 1^st Place Winner for “Promoting Whole-of-Government Approaches in the Information Age” for its 1-GOV.NET initiative," he said.

Further, he confirmed that the UNPSA award was a validation of Galaxy’s vision to be the leading enabler of digital inclusion in Nigeria and on the continent.

+ITRealms DSA 

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JACITAD to Jonathan: Make broadband democracy dividend

A non-governmental organisation, the Joint Action for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Awareness and Development (JACITAD), has asked President Goodluck Jonathan to turn the availability of broadband initiatives in the country into democracy dividends for Nigerians.

The group made this call in its 2011 agenda for the ICT sector in the country.

Speaking through its president, Prince Ogbonnia Osuagwu, they called on President Jonathan to use the accessibility of broadband with the commercial launch of MainOne Cable and Glo-1 since last year.

To achieve this, Prince Osuagwu in the company of the Secretary-General of JACITAD, Mr. Oluwaseun Ayotokun informed ITRealms Online that the government led by President Jonathan, should as matter of urgency consider broadband as digital right of the citizens.

This call, JACITAD said is in line with the recent recommendations of the global telecom body of the United Nations, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

“We all know today that broadband has become the life wire of any economy,” Osuagwu said.

The group pointed out that in any society where broadband is scarce or the cost is high as it is in Nigeria, “no matter other natural resources that may be available in that society they may still be groping in the dark.”

Apart from other rich natural and human resources available to Nigeria, JACITAD noted that two monolithic initiatives berthed at the shores of Nigeria in the preceding year of 2010, but there is nothing to suggest that the government of the day has plans to drive this plan to the populace.

“We feel that all it takes is for the government of the day to cash-in on that to transform the economy,” the group said, advising President Goodluck Jonathan to emulate the United States President, Mr. Barrack Obama, who has since launched a dedicated fund for broadband penetration drive to the rural areas of the country.

“We wouldn’t mind if he would take it as his efforts of delivering democracy dividends,” JACITAD said.

ITRealms Online recalls that last May, at the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) Forum 2010 in Geneva, ITU and United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) proclaimed the establishment of a top level Broadband Commission for Digital Development (BCDD), which will define strategies for accelerating broadband rollout worldwide and examine applications that could see broadband networks improve the delivery of a huge range of social services, from healthcare to education, environmental management, and safety to name a few.

The Commission, which comprised of some 30 top names from around the world, represents technology, business and social enterprises leaders with President Paul Kagame of Rwanda and the Honorary Lifetime Chairman of Grupo Carso, Mr. Carlos Slim Hélu, as co-chairmen, while ITU Secretary-General, Dr. Hamadoun Touré and UNESCO Director-General, Ms. Irina Bokova, will serve as joint vice chairpersons.

The Commission has the support of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who received the Commission’s findings during the UN Millennium Development Goal (MDG) Summit in New York last September.

Speaking then at the launch of BCDD, Dr Touré said that governments now need to view broadband networks as basic national infrastructure.

“In the 21st century, affordable, ubiquitous broadband networks will be as critical to social and economic prosperity as networks like transport, water and power,” he said, pointing out that not only does broadband deliver benefits across every sector of society, it also helps promote social and economic development, and will be key in helping us get the MDGs back on track.

JACITAD was formed in 2003 to champion and assist in molding the understanding of media practitioners within the information and communication technology sector.

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