joseph o sanusi : information and communication technology for the social transformation of nigeria special remarks by dr joseph o sanusi, governor of the central bank of nigeria, delivered at the dinner / investor forum organised by leapfrog venture partners ltd during the national summit on smieis, victoria island, lagos, 10 june 2003. * * * the representative of the honorable minister of industries, the executive governor of lagos state, his excellency, alhaji bola ahmed tinubu, chief executives of banks and other financial institutions, members of non - governmental and multilateral agencies, distinguished industrialists, ladies and gentlemen. it is my pleasure and privilege to make this special remark at this historic investor forum / dinner aimed at educating and enlightening us on the efforts of leapfrog venture partners nigeria limited in promoting and training skilled manpower for the social transformation of nigeria. let me state at the onset that, when the organizers of this forum approached me to be the special guest of honor, i was hesitant in accepting it. however, because of how close this subject is to my heart and in my firm belief of the role of information and communication technology ( ict ) in the promotion of smes in nigeria, i accepted to attend. may i seize this opportunity to congratulate the organizes of the forum, for their foresight and wisdom in selecting such an important and relevant theme, “ information and communication technology for the social transformation of nigeria ”. the effort is also commendable because currently we require massive investments in information and communication technology in order to develop our socio - economic infrastructure. as you all know, advances in information and communication technologies ( icts ) were pivotal to the recent social and economic transformation in both the industrialized and developing countries. the increasing spread of icts has opened new opportunities for developing countries to harness for the attainment of their socio - economic and developmental goals. it is, pertinent to note that, although there have been several efforts at the highest levels of government and industry to promote the construction of a national information infrastructure, the attempt by leapfrog ventures is a very bold step by a private entrepreneur in this direction. we must all join hands with leapfrog ventures in order for nigeria to reap the predicted social and economic benefits. distinguished participants, ladies and gentlemen, as you are aware, recent advances in digital technologies have separated further, the divide between the rich and poor countries. since there is no comprehensive solution for this problem

within the current conventions, it is imperative therefore that we explore the potential ways of utilizing digital technologies in empowering our people and communities to better perform their tasks and roles in our increasingly technologically driven, information centered and knowledge - based economy. we are all aware that, by developing and executing a robust ict strategy, many developing nations and companies have enhanced their cutting edge and vastly improved their core competencies in these areas. some of these nations and companies have achieved competitive edge because the improvements in their ict had allowed them to leverage the benefits of network economies, knowledge management and the advantages of rapid, frictionless, information flow. they have optimized the full spectrum of their capabilities and have from it, realized significant gains in sharing information, products, ideas, and intellectual capital. they have, in that way, positioned themselves in leadership roles in the global market place of the new millennium. there is no gainsaying that, the evidence with independent initiatives all over the world, has revealed the potentials of information and communication technology in, namely : ( i ) empowering people to help themselves in a very broad range of applications, irrespective of their age, gender, race or level of education ; ( ii ) addressing the multi - dimensional nature of poverty ; and ( iii ) transferring the initiatives for development from outside sources to individuals, communities, local authorities and nations. these developments had together put a lot of emphasis on information networks and data bases for both government and large scale commercial uses. the social application of these technologies calls for emphasis on more user - friendly software, that people ( including illiterate people ) could interact with by entering their own information, for their own purposes, at a very low cost and at their own time. in addition, it demands quick access to the relevant information from distant sources. it is my noble opinion therefore, that since the technology is already here, what is absent is, a funding mechanism that will allow poor people access to such information and, the enabling environment in which this can be achieved. i think it was, peter drucker, the doyen of management, who stated that, “ the importance of information technologies is not in their ability to increase the efficiency of current approaches but because they enable us to do new things ”. distinguished ladies and gentlemen, it is in this vein that i commend the efforts of the west african institute of information and communications technology ( waiict ) in their endeavor to build the first west african