An entire generation of 50 million Nigerian
school age children are been undereducated.
What is
your assessment of the level of computer knowledge and use in
Nigeria and Africa?
My seven-year old son has his own computer at home and has one at his school.
As a graduate student, I had access to a dozen supercomputers that cost five to 30 million dollars a piece.
Kayode Ojo, the national president of the Nigerian Association of Computer Science Students, sent me an email complaining about "students who go through universities for 4 years without touching a personal computer."
An entire generation of 50 million Nigerian school age children are been undereducated. Children are our future, not petroleum. You can predict the future of a country by the quality of education its youth is receiving.
In thirty years, Nigeria's oil fields will be dried and it will be more difficult to find money to educate our children.
Nigeria has to place a high priority in scientific education.
Most importantly, the Nigerian government should recruit the thousands of Nigerian computer scientists working abroad to teach in its high schools and universities.
Also, personal computers can be manufactured at a cheaper price in Africa. It will be in the best interest of Africa for the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) and/or the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to place a restriction on the importation of computers into Africa.
The paradox is that although Africa has 35 of the world's poorest countries, not participating in the information superhighway will leave the continent poorer. To build an information highway without computers will be analogous to building highways without cars. For this reason, the completion of the Internet project in 1999 will require that the continent start manufacturing computers by 1999.
However, the Africa ONE Internet project will change that. In fact, with the completion of the project, Nigerians can use their computers and telephone to download thousands of movies, newspapers, magazines, photographs, books, and music from the Internet. This will be more exciting than satellite television.
Click on emeagwali.com for more information.
