Retiring from a 135-minute experience of the notorious Lagos-Ife expressway, I settled down to read the October 2001 edition of an educative international magazine. I thought that would take me off the drifting thoughts on why Nigerian roads always go through the vicious cycle that hangs on one word, contracts. Maybe I was wrong, Nigeria was everywhere in the air! Turning through the pages, the creative intelligence unit of my system set to work when I saw a book review that changed my mind’s symphony… I could no longer read the magazine…an unusual mental alarm was off.
The review of “Hubbert’s Peak: The Impending World Oil Shortage”, written by Keith S. Deffeyes, captured my attention. Deffeyes is not one of those who have been looking into the black crystal ball since oil was discovered, to predict its end. He is the son of a petroleum engineer, a geologist who has worked for Shell Oil and now, a professor at Princeton University. Based on the work of M. King Hubbert, a Shell geologist whose earlier prediction of 1956 got his nation listening when his announced decline rocked America’s oil production, Deffeyes included further sophistication and global calculations in his submission.
“What’s my business with America, or world oil production decline?”, you may ask. Simple. Nigeria’s annual budget is built on a table with only one leg, OIL. When the decline sets in, what happens to Nigeria’s revenue base? Where do we turn? Why would a wise man build his house on a foundation that has a considerable chance of crumbling? The answer to these questions is not far-fetched. (There may be more than one answer but I know one that is tested, proven and certain.) Philip Emeagwali, the Nigerian-born information scientist of world-wide fame once alerted Nigeria on “…putting all her eggs into one basket (by depending on oil)…” and advised that we should “… use a multipronged approach that includes the use of Information Technology…” for job creation, wealth inducement, national recovery and global participation.
Globalization has helped to emphasize the importance of every nation’s presence in the digital society. Nigeria’s National Policy on Information Technology is definitely a great stride in the right direction but … what is the attitude of each Nigerian teacher, lecturer, governor, minister, senator, LG boss, lady, and gentleman to the challenge of bridging the digital divide and the fulfilment of the IT Policy’s vision statement, “To make Nigeria an IT capable country in Africa and a key player in the Information Society by the year 2005, using IT as the engine for sustainable development and global competitiveness”?
The review of “Hubbert’s Peak: The Impending World Oil Shortage”, written by Keith S. Deffeyes, captured my attention. Deffeyes is not one of those who have been looking into the black crystal ball since oil was discovered, to predict its end. He is the son of a petroleum engineer, a geologist who has worked for Shell Oil and now, a professor at Princeton University. Based on the work of M. King Hubbert, a Shell geologist whose earlier prediction of 1956 got his nation listening when his announced decline rocked America’s oil production, Deffeyes included further sophistication and global calculations in his submission.
“What’s my business with America, or world oil production decline?”, you may ask. Simple. Nigeria’s annual budget is built on a table with only one leg, OIL. When the decline sets in, what happens to Nigeria’s revenue base? Where do we turn? Why would a wise man build his house on a foundation that has a considerable chance of crumbling? The answer to these questions is not far-fetched. (There may be more than one answer but I know one that is tested, proven and certain.) Philip Emeagwali, the Nigerian-born information scientist of world-wide fame once alerted Nigeria on “…putting all her eggs into one basket (by depending on oil)…” and advised that we should “… use a multipronged approach that includes the use of Information Technology…” for job creation, wealth inducement, national recovery and global participation.
Globalization has helped to emphasize the importance of every nation’s presence in the digital society. Nigeria’s National Policy on Information Technology is definitely a great stride in the right direction but … what is the attitude of each Nigerian teacher, lecturer, governor, minister, senator, LG boss, lady, and gentleman to the challenge of bridging the digital divide and the fulfilment of the IT Policy’s vision statement, “To make Nigeria an IT capable country in Africa and a key player in the Information Society by the year 2005, using IT as the engine for sustainable development and global competitiveness”?
I will go ahead with a question that I asked at an Information Technology conference that held in Abuja in 1999 (and further made relevant by the enlightening book, nay warning, from an industry expert): What happens to Nigeria tomorrow, if or when oil revenue cannot service our national budget?
Is it not time to embrace Information Technology at all levels, by all people, and people-groups; in reality and not only in “words, ink and papyrus”? The core of Nigeria’s wealth is not in its natural resources, intellectual capital is Nigeria’s greatest resource base. Today’s efforts will decide our fate when tomorrow comes…
Culled from ‘Gbenga Sesan (gbengasesan@yahoo.com)'s page on
Nigeria's Information Technology Youth Ambassador
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