Economic Confidential, May, 2009

FEATURES

Still on African Informatic Olympiad

By Segun Imohiosen

Nigeria, Good People Great Nation. Beyond words and what may appear as mere slogans or jamboree, ours is no doubt a place of good people and indeed a great nation. Considering what average Nigerians have had to put up with over the years and still enduring today; the deprivations, the disappointments, the un-kept promises on the part of the leaders with regards to power, roads, other infrastructures,  the violations and many others, the people have remained resilient, determined and focussed to make a mark. Believe me, this is a people determined that in spite of all the inadequacies are poised to make a difference and have a name among the comity of nations.

Amidst the re-branding project of Prof. Dora Akunyili of the Federal Ministry of Information and Communications, and in spite of all the criticism, the good and bad publicity the project has received, reflecting the divergent interest of the people, everybody has been speaking from the angle which most concerned him and the people cannot be blamed for speaking out their minds. But what is most important is that the interest of the people should be considered in this entire project. Nigerians truly are not asking for too much as most people in all the write-ups read in the media want a re-branding that can end the period of total black outs, bad roads, moribund infrastructures and a few other things. Be it as it may, the first African Informatics Olympiad to be hosted on the African shores has been slated to be held in Nigeria. Our country among other competing African countries got the hosting right. It is interesting to note that as much as other African countries desired to host this forum as pointed out by the Director General of National mathematical Centre, Prof. Sam O. Ale that the most populous black African nation, Nigeria was selected.

This is yet another opportunity to show the rest of the world that we can do something about our image. Nigeria can further re-brand through the informatics Olympiad that is about to take place here in our country. Regardless of the disappointments we have experienced as a people and country and what we are still experiencing, I consider this Olympiad as yet another means of selling ourselves to the rest of the world. That Nigeria was kept out of the G20 leaders Summit in London though may not be a very good omen but it is possible to turn adversity to fortune. It is tough as a country to be shut out of that kind of summit, that decision by the international community must have been borne out of several reasons which cannot be far fetched but for the varying happenings in our country being monitored by the rest of the world. What all of this is pointing at is that we should further put our house in order to be able to actualise our dream for 2020AD. It may appear difficult but not impossible.

Why African Informatics Olympiad? It was a good fortune to serve on a committee recently on the African Informatics Olympiad that brought the grace to search the web and obtain first hand information on this forum with regards to the global platforms of the e-world and the sciences that make the engine of the world tick perfectly. African Informatics Olympiad came into inception in 2008 as an off shoot of the popular and renowned International Olympiad Informatics (IOI). The latter which was initiated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) held in Bulgaria in 1989. The 21st edition of this global forum will be held still in Bulgaria August this year (2009). The IOI is one of the most recognised computer science competitions in the world. The informatics is not limited to just the computer science but all other mathematical sciences including biology. The competition tasks are of algorithmic nature; however, contestants have to show such basic IT skills as problem analysis, design of algorithms and data structures, programming and testing to be qualified. The central target is for the secondary schools students.

This is an annual event organised in and by one of the participating countries. The central objective of IOI is to stimulate interest in informatics (computing science) and information technology. It also provides a platform to bring together exceptionally talented students from various countries and to have them share scientific and cultural experiences – this be speaks of the UNESCO mandate. Each participating country sends a delegation of four students and two accompanying adults, accommodated, fed and transported within and by the hosting country. This African version of the Olympiad is created to improve Africa’s participation in the global contest in the sciences. At the 2008 edition of the IOI held in Egypt, 92 countries participated, only Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa and Egypt represented Africa. It must be realised that this poor participation of the African countries at the IOI motivated the Director General of the National Mathematical Centre, Prof. Sam O. Ale to rally the support of other African countries for a continental edition of the Olympiad. It is therefore not surprising that the National Mathematical Centre is conducting and organising this first edition of the African Olympiad in collaboration with other stakeholders.

It must be considered at this point that it is very important for Nigeria to take advantage of this forum to improve on the educational system of the country. Reports have it that in spite of the fact that mobile telephony and computer application have blossomed in Nigeria in the last decade, painfully though, the country is underserved and it’s lagging behind when its potential is considered. In furtherance, the European Union website indicates that in 2007 internet penetration in the United Kingdom and Poland was 100 percent and 64 per cent respectively. However, the International Telecommunications Union Website credits Nigeria with about 63 million mobile telephone lines and 40 per cent teledensity. Disappointedly as it were, internet penetration is still less than 1 per cent, which means that fewer than 1.4 million Nigerian have access to the internet with regards to the 140 million estimated population of the country. Most African countries are struggling to catch up with the rest of the digitalised world except South Africa which has about 44.51 million subscribers indicating about 85 percent penetration. Though there are a few other countries in Africa like Morocco 74 per cent and Kenya 39 per cent that have made some worthwhile penetration into mobile telephony but not very desirable. However, the implication is that Africa in general needs to improve on their science and computer related education.

Owing to this kind of data available and reflective of what is obtainable in our ICT world as a nation, there is a need for us as a people to work harder in developing ourselves further to be able to cope with challenges that are bound to surface on a regular note as we work day in and out as a people and nation. I think this is why the African Olympiad should be given all it would take in order for it to be a success and for us to leverage through this platform by virtue of the opportunity it would bring our way as a nation. It is a big challenge to the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology and more importantly the Federal Ministry of Education and other line agencies like the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) to see the African edition of the Informatics Olympiad as a catalyst to enhance the study of computer in our schools and in the economic process of the country. By hosting the first edition of the African Informatics Olympiad, then Nigeria cannot be excused for not being in the fore front of info tech superhighway in Africa by the time this forum would have been held and concluded. It may interest you to know that there are quite a number of African countries with schools that are yet to have computer education in their curriculum.

In a world driven by ICT, it is of necessity to encourage our children and youth to take advantage of this in order to remain relevant in the affairs of the world in time to come and now. After all, the world today has become a global village through InfoTech. Access to information with its application to knowledge is critical and germane in the development process. As the entire world is moving towards information super highway, countries which fail to embrace information and communication technology will be left behind in the highly digitalised, fast changing world. Africa cannot afford to be a laggard.

Concertedly, along the platform of Mr. President’s administration of the 7 Point Agenda and the United Nations targets on the Millennium Development Goals and to actualise the dreams of NEPAD and to give meaning to our national aspiration to be among the 20 most advanced nations in the world by 2020AD, I think it is critical for us as a good people of a great nation to come together and make success of this Olympiad. The success of this forum puts us as a nation in the vantage position and will provide immense promotional mileage for us as people and country involved in the development process of the entire world as reflected above with regards to the world mandate through the United Nations and the MDGs. And it must be noted that certain key aims and objectives are subsumed via the Olympiad such as; encouraging better and higher participation of African countries in International Olympiad Informatics, to develop and produce youthful talents that will proudly represent Africa in the IOI, to stimulate young computer scientist for intensive research that would kick start the Africa Information Communication Technology. And above all the utmost goal is to stimulate interest in informatics and information technology.

Nigeria is a great nation; we cannot afford to downplay the God given position in the world and especially in Africa. This is an opportunity to host Africa and the observers from the rest of the world to lead Africa to the information technology age. Effort so far is in top gear by various government departments, the armed forces, immigration, civil defence, FRSC, and different stakeholders including the private sector through different meetings of different committees to make this continental forum a reality. Let us further rebrand through the Olympiad – it is another opportunity.  AIO – Enhancing Africa’s e-potentials.   

Segun Imohiosen writes from Abuja.

segunimohiosen@yahoo.com