eNNOVATE-08 goes to Abuja

This year’s annual eNNOVATE expo and conferences would be holding at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, reports CHARLES OKOH.

Project Director for eNNOVATE 2008, Mr. John Awe, said the event scheduled to hold between September 23 and 24, at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua International Conference Centre, Abuja.

Awe also noted that traditionally eNNOVATE held in Lagos, but its moving to Abuja is based on this year’s theme.

According to him, “this year, eNNOVATE will be examining the relationship between technology on one hand and leadership, governance and development on the other”.

He pointed out that the shift to Abuja was imperative in the light of the fact that the cream of Nigeria’s leadership including its political elite, reside in Abuja.

Examining the potential impact of technology on leadership and development, he said, the expo will strive to “unravel technological tools and applications which can help to make governance more systematic, transparent and consequently more effective.”

Technology, he said, is revolutionizing the continent of Africa, citing the mobile phone, for instance, saying, it has proven to be a strong empowerment tool that is making life easier and more productive for Africans even while lending itself to a multiplicity of uses never imagined even in the countries where it originated.

This revolution, he said, needs to be extended to the public sector, where good governance remains a critical challenge.

“Just as we are optimizing the benefits of technology in the private sector, we ought to extend same to the public sector,” he asserted.

From taxation to human resource management; project monitoring and implementation to census and demographic analysis, technology is finding increasing usage in governance across the world.

Further, he said, that eNNOVATE, will endeavour to bring these potential useful adaptations of technology in governance to the fore of consciousness of Nigeria’s political elite and in so doing, attempts to drive its increasing adoption.

eNNOVATE will also witness practical demonstrations of electronic government tools and applications among other devices and applications by Microsoft, IBM and other leading technology-driven organizations.

ITREALMS Online recalls that eNNOVATE, a project of the XLR8, a communications consulting firm said its objective is to deepen appreciation of technology and gradually encourage popular adoption of technology in everyday living in Nigeria and elsewhere in the developing world.
The expo has witnessed the sponsorship and participation of leading technology-driven firms including Cisco, MTN, IBM, Nokia, Hewlett Packard, APC, Ecobank, Starcomms, ReltelWireless, Mtel, MTSFirst and among others.


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