IT, vital to resolving financial meltdown – Zaku

Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Bako Zaku, has identified Information Technology (IT) as a key factor in solving the problem posed by the global economic meltdown.

Dr. Zaku who was speaking at the opening ceremony of the Nigerian Telecom Exhibition 2009, over the weekend in Lagos, said for the nation to attain its potentials among the comity of nations, she must leverage on IT platform and must be given its prime place.

The Minister who was represented by the Director General of the Federal Institute of Industrial Research, Oshodi, (FIIRO), Dr. Oluwole Olatunji, said the nation is still young in terms of her inputs in the global telecom market, saying that there is a lot of gaps that needs to be filled for the nation to be counted among the super
powers in information technology.

“The issue of IT is of utmost importance because we realize that for us to move forward as a nation, IT is so vital, it is so pivotal. There is virtually nothing anyone can do in the world today without IT. We are stressing that as a nation, we need to leapfrog. We do not want to reinvent the wheel. Whatever has worked and is working, we shall adopt it,” he said.

He emphasized the need for more input into research and development as a way of developing the nation.

“It is a global phenomenon that research and development, develops a nation and we have seen the contributions of other nations towards research and development. We are not there yet, we need much more input into research and development, if we must meet the goal of vision 202020

Also speaking, the immediate past Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Prof. Oye Ibidapo-Obe, said the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is like a storm that cannot be stopped, adding that there are many more storms to be expected.

He called on the youths to develop the can-do spirit, saying that the top 20 developed economies of the world are those who have spent more on research and development.

Prof. Ibidapo-Obe further said good governance is about transparency and that for any nation to move forward the leadership must imbibe transparency as code of conduct.

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