This week’s Information Communications Technology for Africa 2008 Conference might be the farthest Southern University has ever “hosted” a conference. Victor Mbarika, director of Southern’s International Center for Information Technology and Development, said he expects about 200 participants at the inaugural conference being held in his home nation of Cameroon.
The theme is using information technology to expand telemedicine, e-business and distance learning in poor, developing African countries, he said. One highlight of the conference will involve a teleconference showing a doctor in the U.S. or a European nation treat a rural African patient. Eventually, Mbarika envisions, poorer residents in rural areas throughout Africa will receive medical treatment from doctors in developed countries without ever having to leave their villages.
Media Coverage
SU hosts conference in Africa on Communication Technology
This week's Information Communication and Technology for Africa's 2008 Conference might be the farthest Southern University has hosted has ever "hosted" a conference. Read More...
ICTs are relevant in education, business, health...
Say information and communication technologies are relevant in the fields of education, business, health, development and governance
By Ojong Steven Ayuk in Yaounde
Despite the exponential rate at which modern information and communication technologies (ICTs) are penetrating Africa, most countries south of the Sahara still appear to be lagging behind in terms of policies that can guarantee sustainable improvement of ICTs for purposes of socio-economic and political development.
This observation is the main topic of discussion at a four-day conference on ICTs for practitioners, academics and policy-makers holding at the Yaounde Djeuga Palace hotel since yesterday. ICT researchers from the International Centre for Information Technology and Development (ICITD), Southern University in the USA also made the same remark.
ICITD and University of Buea Establish Educational Partnerships
One of the key outcomes of the 2008 ICT for Africa Conference is the establishment of an educational partnership between ICITD and University of Buea, Cameroon. Reporting on this, Daniel Gwarbarah of
The Post, a Cameroon news publication, noted in his report that, "Masters and PhD students as well as lecturers of the University of Buea, UB, have been promised exchange programmes with western universities".
Speaking at the start of the Information and Communication Technology, ICT, conference that took place in Yaounde, Prof. Mbarika said UB's Prof. Enoh Tanjong is at the forefront of the deal.
Mbarika, an ICT consultant and chair of the conference, said the exchange programme and collaboration would enable UB students and lecturers to tap from the ICT wealth of knowledge of western universities which would enable them to produce and transmit knowledge, and develop the country.
He noted that the purpose of the conference was to bring together minds to think intellectually about technological transformations. He said gone are the days that Africa must continue to borrow from western technology, and advised research students at the conference, dominantly from UB, to bring up research proposals that address local realities.
Mbarika said western governments are now realising that Africa has important contributions to make to the development of ICTs. He maintained that he is working with a team of first generation ICT PhD holders on how ICTs can penetrate Africa and how it can impact on the lives of rural dwellers in the continent.
Prof. Muhammadou Kah, Dean of ICT at the American University of Nigeria, acknowledged the brain drain phenomenon affecting African nations. However, he insisted that Africans in the Diaspora are ready to share what they have acquired in the west. "We have been brain drained but we are ready to brain circulate," he noted.
The Vice Chancellor of UB, Prof. Vincent Titanji, said Africa would never boast of economic independence "unless it starts producing and placing its [own] technological products in the market." He nevertheless expressed optimism when he said messages from his students indicate that such a venture is feasible.
The Deputy Chief of Missions at the US Embassy in Yaounde, Stephen Fox, said Cameroon is a promising destination for every industry or company dealing in ICTs. He said the two leading telephony companies, Orange and MTN, are grappling with an already saturated communication network because of the increasing demand.
He observed that business is however being stifled in the country by corruption. He also described as horrible efforts to set up a business in Cameroon, considering the numerous administrative bottlenecks. Thus, he urged conference organisers to think of how ICTs can be used in fighting against corruption.
Representing the Minister of Post and Telecommunications, the Secretary General, Edouard Ebah Abada, said the conference was taking place at a time when government has engaged in the promotion and development of ICT infrastructure in the country. He said ICTs are being introduced at all levels of Cameroon's educational system, while the internet is being domesticated.
Some of the themes treated at the conference included: ICT and business; ICT in education; ICT in healthcare; ICT and public sector, ICT, internet and society, etc.
Culled from the The Post Online and writted by Daniel Gwarbarah
