How can we develop the state of information technology in Nigeria?

Actually, we Nigerians are aware of the state of Information Technology in Nigeria and we all are aware that the present state is not really remarkable.

So, I want all members who believe in the revolution of Nigeria to contribute to the development of Information Technology in Nigeria and also outsourcing from it's revolution.

invest in more landlines. a lot of businessed require landlines

For information technolgy to get anywhere in this country, we need constant and reliable power supply. I thank God they said 19 new power stations are in the pipeline. One of them is in Ondo State.

Next is affordable and reliable Internet connectivity.

With all these in place, Nigerians ingenuity will come on board full time.

Two words:
Government sponsorship

Here they go again. No offence, but arent we asking too much from the government?

we don't need more landlines that would be too chaotic...wifi is the way forward...

Broadband Over Power Line will be a great solution. I still prefer that over laying fresh cables.

What all of you are trying to say is that Cheap Internet Access, maybe even broadband, will go a long way in helping Nigeria's development in the Infotech Sector. And cheaper telecommunications generally. I agree wholeheartedly with you!

Another thing that will help is reliable supply of electricity (solving the NEPA problem!)

Dear All if we have the following in place we can go places.

1. Reliable Power Supply
2. Equiped and developed Computer Science in our Universities/Secondary Skools up to international standard ( e.g India ,
China, Denmark )
3. Let's get wiser and start running fibre optics instead of small scale fixed wireless


we can start with these.

ha joftech,
I just couldn't ignore you. Pls pls pls Broadband over Power works only in developed countries not in a country where Power is available on 3months in a year to the entire population of over 100million. Secondly You need to know these technology well enough.

@Guardian, your objection to the deployment of Broadband Over Power Line(BPL) as a result of unstable power supply is not a valid impediment to it’s deployment here. In our previous posts, we both advocated for regular power supply as a prerequisite for ICT development. If and when eventually there’s a stable power in this country won’t BPL be a valid and cost-effective option than fibre optics?

I have been following BPL for close to 4 years now. When eventually it gain widespread usage and all it's teething problems are over, you will know that it's the only broadband connectivity option that Nigeria has a ready infrastructure for.

I hope new technologies will be able to reduce/remove the interference issue which has made it not to be a widely deployed solution. With big names like IBM, Google, Intel, Cisco etc committing millions of dollars into the development of BPL I can only but envision a well-connected Nigeria.

Joftech,
yeah, that is if and when Electricity becomes what it is in Europe, Asia and north America. As per the technology interface is no issue we even have them here in Lagos. Linksys have these out already.

seems in nigeria information technology is a synonym for communications technology.

anyhoo, lets fight piracy first

Piracy? hmm there is piracy even in the US and other developed world? Its even higher there compare to anywhere in the world, because of their high speed networks and awareness. I really didnt get that part.

oh my. kazey has never been to otigba, ikeja. 

piracy here is one of the reasons, open source technology can't grow in nigeria.

why download a linux distro when u can get windows xp for 100 bucks at otigba? thats barely $1.00

@Codec, can you afford these original softwares if they ask you to be buying them.

Kindly check my blog joftech..com and see what i wrote on linux and Windows.

"joftech":

@Codec, can you afford these original softwares if they ask you to be buying them.

Kindly check my blog joftech..com and see what i wrote on linux and Windows.

of course i can't afford them and it doesn't really bother me cos i only use free software. the only proprietary software i have is the winXP that came bundled with my laptop.

yes, majority of nigerians can't afford them but that shouldn't be our problem as there are now plenty other options. let it be microsoft's problem.

Well as far as I know. Nigeria is not highely rated as a country that really deals in piracy. Visit some P2p networks especially Torrent related ones or even some countries in Asia, and you would understand what I mean.

Yall are really fired up! As time goes on, yes, Broadband over powerline will be perfect in major metropols. Still, might want to consider fiber for your backbones, tho. Also, for rural coverage, FLASH OFDM is definately something to look into along with WiMAX. I really don't see why you guys can't put together your own top notch telecom infrastructure and leave all these middle men out the picture. What are these MTN guys using, CDMA? Dial-up is really passe... Now you might say I am only saying that because i'm in the Snakes (i mean States ), but the tech is available, cheap, and the dividends of MTN can easily be drafted by you guys if you know how to move. PLay your cards right, and you guys can get all of West Africa on lock as far as IT goes. That's an area I plan to invest heavily in.

Here are some links:
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1035_22-5581027.html
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0DUJ/is_17_108/ai_n9544498
http://telephonyonline.com/mag/telecom_next_generation_gap/
http://www.flarion.com/news/downloads/020705SignalsAhead.pdf
[url]http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1770841,00.asp[/url]
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/06/29/2132221&tid=193

The thing to watch for is that the trail was a total success. Nextel really had no choice but to adopt since it had made a bad network infrastructure decision before, never mind the success of the trail. Then, out the blue, sprint comes in and snaps up nextel. Sprint has already invested in its CDMA network... so to migrate to a OFDM network..... wouldn't be good for them. They are also one of the major telecoms in the nation. I stand by the hypothesis that major players DO NOT want this technology deployed because:
1) Small timers over here will be able to get in, develope a niche market, and expand the f*ck out of it, eventually threatening local market leaders across mulitple sectors including wireless providers, land line providers, and cable providers
2) they want to keep it on the low low, as we tend say. With the range Flarion is quoting (and the trial proved) along with the bandwidth, and the relatively low cost of the equipment, this tech is poised to become a major leap frog technology.

One thing, tho. If it stays on the low, Flarion could keep a lock on the specs of the equipment and charge a premium. However, i don't know how successful the japan trials were with vodaphone. If it did alright over there, then most certainly the japs are ready to get their hands on the hardware and to start putting it in production.

The Conscious Rasta, Kiedi Obi Awadu, had almost a two hour discussion on this tech about four months ago on LIB Radio's Wednesday Night Tech Talk (yours truly also contributed a small bit). You can go here to order a CD of that archived show: http://www.libradio.com/product2.htm It's item number (LIBCD1215).

Also, don't concern yourself with being labeled "pirates". Yeah, hardcore coders and devs will use the open source but everybody else needs the 'doze. Use Bit torrent with a good proxy and be sure to send that stuff home. Just don't try to sell it . My concern is that the students (especially engineering) in the nigerian universities are not getting hands experience with top tier software like AutoCad and AutoDesk Inventer. Also, don't sleep on the number of digital textbooks you can find, also. The minute we get caught up with this whole "stealing" software concept, we set ourselves up for total failure. By the way, just illustrate the point, how did we, american blacks, end up over here? They stole us. Realize everything the yt got, they got because they stole something else. That's a fact and hopefully not an issue of debate.

Holla, My Peoples!

sorry i had edit:
All of this is nice and dandy but if you don't have power... then you don't have a party. In tangent with these technologies, solar in going to have to major major investment. I have always envisioned communites with a hydrogen cell implementation. Generates power, and water. That's what i'm studying now. Rule #2 Gidoff the frecking grid, maaannn!!!

Okay, Now Holla!

sometimes i get to go use a cafe, that has a computer training room by the side. sometimes, out of curiosity, i try to be listening to all the nonsense and totally-crap lecture stories the lecturer is telling the students.......ex: blah blah blah is definition of a desktop, blah blah blah is the definition of a wallpaper, blah blah blah is the definition of a mouse-pad......etc

my most pissed off day was when i saw a computer lecturer in an adjacent room to where the cafe was, lecturing some students in "Advanced Computer Appreciation" and teaching them Microsoft Excel using a blackboard. NEPA was at work, as usual and these guys separated the electrical connection of the cafe from the computer school, so while the gen was running for us in the cafe, they had no NEPA, and still they were in a computer class.

Now please imagine sitting in a class and learning Microsoft Excel on a blackboard, the teacher draws a lot of horizontal and vertical lines on the board with a white chalk, and then the guy started labelling "cell1, cell2". And for him to show them wherever the cursor was supposed to be on the blackboard, he had to shade the whole "cell"

I watched him for about 5-minutes and I fell-sick in my stomach....I just couldnt continue, coz if i did, i guess i would rush in, throw him out-of the window, run to the managers office and ask him why he was wasting the time of his students.

That's not wasting peoples time. If it's not working for them they would have stop the method. Stop criticizing thiis way.

@joftech

im not criticizing, if the method is not working, how will the person that needs help know something is not working. its those who know what is obtainable that needs to put things in order so that ppls time will not be wasted/.

that is why most of such graduates get the diplomas and certificates and they are still far behind, technically speaking

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