Barbados embraces ICT

A cabinet subcommittee has been established to develop a comprehensive information communication technology (ICT) plan for Barbados, states The Barbados Advocate.

Minister of health, Donville Inniss, says the committee represents the major economic sector inclusive of health and education and was created because government recognised the need for a national approach to integrating ICT in its developmental programmes and strategies.

The ministry has made significant headway in formulating an ICT policy through the work of an information management and information technology task force.

Reliance on foreign ICT products has cost Nigerian companies N25 billion (R1.4 billion) in the last 10 years, according to the National Office of Technology Acquisition and Promotion (Notap), reports This Day Online.

Notap, a federal government agency, claims that enormous resources had been expended by different companies, especially the banking sector, to acquire foreign software and other forms of ICT products over the past decade.

Director-general of National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Professor Cleopas Angaye, says that NITDA will be establishing software development centres in Kano and Lagos, for the training of IT resources, as well as testing and development of software.

Rwanda education Mmnister Gahakwa held a workshop on ICT in education recently, says All Africa.com.

The ministry of education is collaborating technically with international organisations dealing with ICT such as Cisco, Microsoft, Google, Motorola and Intel to see how they can invest their expertise in the national education system.

According to Zvi Shechter, the Motorola manager in charge of communication system operations, the company is willing to work on every project that can enhance ICT in education in the region.