INDICATION emerged weekend that a cross section of the Nigeria Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has backed Jonathan and Sambo candidacies for the presidential election 2011. The group under the name, ICT Alliance for People and Environment (ITAPE) informed Champion Infotech that they endorsed the candidacy of Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan in the 2011 April elections, because that seems to be the best option for Nigeria at this time in point.
In a media interaction in Lagos ITAPE described the Goodluck/Sambo team as the mainly appealing on an index scale of most e-ready presidential team that has acknowledged the benefit of information technology in the 21st century and also sought to use New Media tool to reach a critical segment of the Nigerian population.
President Goodluck first launched his Presidential campaign bid on one of the leading social networks, Facebook, and has since sustained a two-way communication platform on his Facebook page to share his ideas and national growth agenda with well over 70 million people most of whom constitute a national followership that could only have been facilitated by New Media tools.
According to the Coordinator of the Group, Mr. Segun Oruame, “Africa needs a political leadership that understands and appreciates the power of technology if it must achieve its millennium goals. President Goodluck has not only proven that he appreciates technology but has gone further to join the youths on various networking platforms to exchange ideas on national issues.”
“For the first time in Nigeria’s national history, you have a political leadership that is engaging an exponentially growing online community to facilitate positive socio-economic changes,” said Oruame, a GKP/Panos Fellow, Head of the IT Edge Intelligence Unit and member of Nigeria’s ICT4D Strategic Ministerial Committee.
According to the ITAPE, the president has opened a new phase in people and leadership communication with vast potential to break the boundaries of ethnic and religious bigotry that has often coloured how Nigerians assess and respond to their political leaders.
“President Goodluck has maintained a never-before available window of communication with which Nigerians can share and respond to him outside of the brick walls of traditional means of governance. Through this window, millions of Nigerians have come to on their won assess him and accept him for the potential for positive change he represents and not on the basis of his tribe or religion,” said ITAPE’s Secretary General Bayero Agabi.
“A great percentage of Nigerians have seen the potentials for change in the Goodluck/Sambo team,” added Agabi, the continental coordinator for ICT Trainers Network under the Economic Commission of Africa (ECA) and member of the IDPM.
According to ITAPE, it was time Nigerians looked beyond divisive politics at the common grounds for national cohesion and development. Since ICT all over the world offers a rallying tool for unity and development, President Goodluck should be commended for opting to adopt ICT as a tool to foster national acceptance, said ITAPE.
The Group acknowledged that virtually all the political aspirants for presidential office have various levels of online representations but the Goodluck team leads in the ability to galvanize a critical online community and influence the thought process of this community to a significant and positive level. “Leadership is not just about ideals but ability to transforms ideals to practical results in the lives of the people and the environment they exist,” said the ICT Alliance.
ITAPE constitute of professionals from across Africa committed to the ideals of political unity, economic prosperity and social transformation using the tools of ICT. Since its founding, ITAPE has encouraged the growth of an online community promoting the ideals of an African continent bereft of corrupt political leadership and attuned to fundamental tenets of an egalitarian society.
Remmy Nweke:ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D
No comments:
Post a Comment