Leapfrogging National Development using Technology

Introduction There are divergent positions of development:
Some people believe development is encapsulated in the sprouting of sophisticated physical structures
Some look at it from the angle of increase in socio-economic activities.
Some measure development in terms of improvement in financial standing.
Development can also mean the actualization of an implicit potentiality, the simplest example being the patterned growth maturation of a seed or an initial germ–cell, to the full adult from the individual plant,
Development is closely tied to infrastructure where it is those physical structures that facilitate the production of goods and services, without themselves being part of the production process. These include roads, airports, ports, utility production and distributive systems, water and sewage systems, communication networks and energy networks.
No nation can develop without science and technology
A nation that lacks the necessary science and technology in this area will have to depend on other developed nations for the existence of its people
A nation without science and technology cannot feed its people because agriculture requires the application of science and technology. 4<br>

Gaps in Nigeria’s National Development Standard of education – Needs to be raised
Unemployment rate – Needs to be lowered
Security: crime, kidnapping, militancy – Needs to be curtailed
Power: epileptic power supply for industries and homes needs limiting growth
Financial inclusion: low rural financial inclusion and adoption of banking services needs to be reversed
Health services: Unavailability of high quality health services in rural areas
Limited Access to Internet: Internet needs to be widely accessible 5<br>

Role of Citizens in National development Citizens form a major component in National Development.
Spiegel notes, "Citizen participation is the process that can meaningfully tie programs to people" (1968).
Citizen participation is highly important. Cahn and Camper (1968) suggest there are three rationales for citizen participation.
First, they suggest that merely knowing that one can participate promotes dignity and self-sufficiency within the individual.
Second, it taps the energies and resources of individual citizens within the community. Finally, citizen participation provides a source of special insight, information, knowledge, and experience, which contributes to the soundness of community solutions.
The result is an emphasis on problem solving to eliminate deficiencies in the community (Christensen & Robinson 1980).
Citizens will voluntarily participate in a community activity when they:
see positive benefits to be gained.
have an appropriate organizational structure available to them for expressing their interests.
see some aspect of their way-of-life threatened.
feel committed to be supportive of the activity.
have better knowledge of an issue or situation.
feel comfortable in the group
Further, citizen participation can be improved by:
stressing participation benefits.
organizing or identifying appropriate groups receptive to citizen input.
helping citizens find positive ways to respond to threatening situations.
stressing obligations each of us have toward community improvement.
providing citizens with better knowledge on issues and opportunities.
helping participants feel comfortable within the development group. 6<br>

Orientation Technology gaps can be filled with citizen participation. This can be achieved with re-orientation
Drive for innovation and problem solving
Valuing Intellectual property e.g. inventions, patents, written works
According to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO 2007), there were 882,715 patent applications from China, 5,220,327 from the USA and only 699 from Nigeria between 1985-2006
Increased emphasis on computer appreciation and literacy
Provision of scholarships for technology based courses
Recognition
Awards and competitions e.g. software development competitions, hackathons 7<br>

Technology Education Education is accepted as a human right and, as such, should receive priority in the allocation of national resources.
Bennell (1996) observes that all countries, especially developing countries, need balanced development through all of the educational sectors in order to make significant progress in terms of national development
Strengthening Primary and Secondary technology education to build strong foundation
Former Minister of Education, Professor Ruqquyat Rufai, disclosed that her Ministry had developed a 4-Year Strategic Plan for the Development of the Education Sector that will run from 2011 to 2015. She mentioned Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) as a key issue to be addressed by this plan.
Focus on innovation, skill acquisition and problem solving rather than academic qualifications only 8<br>

Sustainable policies that can be adopted Developed nations in the West set aside about 10 per cent of their countries’ GDP for development of science and technology. Asian countries such as South Korea have followed suit and set aside over 10 per cent of their GDP for science and technology.
Adoption of technology in Government processes
E-payment, HR and payroll, Budgeting and accounting
Adoption of Open Source software to reduce technology cost and increase automation
The Government of Kerala, India, announced its official support for free/open-source software in its State IT Policy of 2001,[which was formulated after the first-ever free software conference in India, "Freedom First!", held in July 2001 in Trivandrum, the capital of Kerala, where Richard Stallman inaugurated the Free Software Foundation of India
German city of Munich adopted SUSE Linux March 2003
Government of Peru voted to adopt open source technologies across all its bodies
2009 United States White House moved its servers to Linux and Drupal for content management 9<br>

Sustainable policies that can be adopted Automation of Government Budget and Financial Systems to increase efficiency, accuracy and transparency in public finances
GIFMIS
Treasury Single Account (TSA)
Automation of tax administration systems to increase revenue and make taxation pivot of national development
FIRS ITAS
Adoption of workflow and Business Process Management Systems for process automation and paperless offices
Open source BPM tools like Processmaker, Bizagi, Bonita BPM
Adoption of Integrated Human Resource Management Systems/ERP
IPPIS 10<br>

Sustainable policies that can be adopted Optimization of processes
Automation of processes
Using technology proactively not reactively
Long term not short term 11<br>

Integrated Technology Roadmap 12 An integrated Technology Roadmap is key to national development.
Nigeria’s first National Science and Technology Policy was developed in 1986
A second one in 1997,
A third policy in 2003
Second and third had goals of the creation of an independent, integrated economy.
They emphasized a systematic approach to determining technology programmes
Requirements for success in implementation of national technology roadmap
Clear vision for the future
Budgetary allocation to Science and Technology
Good relationships between Min. Of Science and Technology and outside organisations/development partners DFID/UN/EU etc.
Legal framework and backing for the policy<br>

Key uses and applications of technology that can help to bridge the national development gaps Broadband Internet
Data analytics and Business Intelligence
Mobile applications
Computer Aided Agriculture/E-Agriculture
E-Health/Telemedicine
E-Learning and E-libraries
Identity Management System
Renewable energy, Solar and wind power
Cloud computing 13<br>

Broadband Connectivity High speed Internet access
Fixed :VSAT, Fibre-optic cables, Radio
Mobile :GPRS, EDGE , 3G, 4G LTE
Some relevant applications of broadband connectivity
Internet content delivery: websites, streaming video, streaming audio, RSS feeds
E-commerce: Jumia.com, Konga.com,
Payment gateways :WebPay
E-banking, m-Banking
Micro blogging :Twitter
Social Networks : Facebook, Google+
Online Crowdsourcing: the practice of obtaining needed services, ideas, or content by soliciting contributions from a large group of people, and especially from an online community, rather than from traditional employees or suppliers
Online Crowdfunding :the process of funding projects by a multitude of people contributing a small amount in order to attain a certain monetary goal eg.www.kickstarter.com 14<br>

Data Mining and Analytics National development requires proper planning. Proper planning requires information. Data analytics enable proper extraction of useful information to aid decision making and planning.
Analysis of data is a process of inspecting, cleaning, transforming, and modeling data with the goal of discovering useful information, suggesting conclusions, and supporting decision making.
Data integration is a precursor to data analysis, and data analysis is closely linked to data visualization and data dissemination.
Data mining is a particular data analysis technique that focuses on modeling and knowledge discovery for predictive rather than purely descriptive purposes.
Business intelligence covers data analysis that relies heavily on aggregation, focusing on extraction of business information from the raw data. This allows hidden patterns and trends to be seen and more accurate forecasting.
There are several ICT tools that enable data mining and extraction of business intelligence to aid planning for National Development e.g. UN DevInfo 15<br>

Mobile Applications The privatization of the telecoms industry has brought about growth of telephone lines. Nigeria presently has over 100m GSM lines across all service providers. This forms a huge platform for technology to aid national development.
mLearning
The term m-learning or "mobile learning", has different meanings for different communities, that refer to a subset of e-learning, educational technology and distance education, that focuses on learning across contexts and learning with mobile devices
M-learning technologies include handheld computers, MP3 players, notebooks, mobile phones and tablets. M-learning focuses on the mobility of the learner, interacting with portable technologies, and learning that reflects a focus on how society and its institutions can accommodate and support an increasingly mobile population. There is also a new direction in m-learning that gives the instructor more mobility and includes creation of on the spot and in the field learning material that predominately uses smartphone with special software such as AHG Cloud Note. Using mobile tools for creating learning aides and materials becomes an important part of informal learning.
mCommerce mobile commerce use of mobile phones for commerce
mPayments mobile payments use of mobile phones for payments
mBanking mobile banking use of mobile phones for banking
mAgriculture use of mobile phones in agriculture for information, farm input distribution such as fertilizer distribution 16<br>

Mobile Applications Mobile banking is a system that allows customers of a financial institution to conduct a number of financial transactions through a mobile device such as a mobile phone, or tablet. Mobile banking differs from mobile payments, which involve the use of a mobile device to pay for goods or services either at the point of sale or remotely.
Mobile banking has until recently (2010) most often been performed via SMS or the mobile web. Apple's initial success with iPhone and the rapid growth of phones based on Google's Android (operating system) have led to increasing use of special client programs, called apps, downloaded to the mobile device. With that said, advancements in web technologies such as HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript have seen more banks launching mobile web based services to complement native applications. A recent study (May 2012) by Mapa Research suggests that over a third of banks have mobile device detection upon visiting the banks' main website.
Typical mobile banking services may include:
Mini-statements and checking of account history, Alerts on account activity or passing of set thresholds, Monitoring of term deposits, Access to loan statements, Access to card statements
Payments, deposits, withdrawals, and transfers Cash-in, cash-out transactions on an ATM, Domestic and international fund transfers, Micro-payment handling, Mobile & Direct to Home package recharging, Purchasing tickets for travel and entertainment, Commercial payment processing, Bill payment processing, Withdrawal at banking agent, Deposit at banking agent 17<br>

Computer Aided Agriculture E-Agriculture is an emerging field focusing on the enhancement of agricultural and rural development through improved information and communication processes. More specifically, e-Agriculture involves the conceptualization, design, development, evaluation and application of innovative ways to use information and communication technologies (IT) in the rural domain, with a primary focus on agriculture. E-Agriculture is a relatively new term and we fully expect its scope to change and evolve as our understanding of the area grows.
E-Agriculture is one of the action lines identified in the declaration and plan of action of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). The "Tunis Agenda for the Information Society," published on 18 November 2005 and emphasizes the leading facilitating roles that UN agencies need to play in the implementation of the Geneva Plan of Action.
All stakeholders of agriculture industry need information and knowledge about agriculture phases to manage them efficiently. Any system applied for getting information and knowledge for making decisions in any industry should deliver accurate, complete, concise information in time or on time Record text, drawings, photographs, audio, video, process descriptions, and other information in digital formats, 18<br>

Computer Aided Agriculture In agriculture, the use of the Global Positioning System (GPS) provides benefits in geo-fencing, map-making and surveying. In Kenya, for example, the solution to prevent an elephant bull from wandering into farms and destroying precious crops was to tag the elephant with a device that sends a text message when it crosses a geo-fence. Using the technology of SMS and GPS, the elephant can roam freely and the authorities are alerted whenever it is near the farm.
Geographic information systems, or GIS, are extensively used in agriculture, especially in precision farming. Land is mapped digitally, and pertinent geodetic data such as topography and contours are combined with other statistical data for easier analysis of the soil. GIS is used in decision making such as what to plant and where to plant using historical data and sampling.
The Veterinary Department of Malaysia's Ministry of Agriculture introduced a livestock-tracking program in 2009 to track the estimated 80,000 cattle all across the country. Each cattle is tagged with the use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology for easier identification, providing access to relevant data such as: bearer's location, name of breeder, origin of livestock, sex, and dates of movement. This program is the first of its kind in Asia, and is expected to increase the competitiveness of Malaysian livestock industry in international markets by satisfying the regulatory requirements of importing countries like United States, Europe and Middle East. Tracking by RFID will also help producers meet the dietary standards by the halal market. The program will also provide improvements in controlling disease outbreaks in livestock. 19<br>

E-Learning E-learning can be defined as learning conducted via electronic media, typically on the Internet.
E-learning refers to the use of electronic media and information and communication technologies (ICT) in education. E-learning is broadly inclusive of all forms of educational technology in learning and teaching. E-learning is inclusive of, and is broadly synonymous with multimedia learning, technology-enhanced learning (TEL), computer-based instruction (CBI), computer-based training (CBT), computer-assisted instruction or computer-aided instruction (CAI), internet-based training (IBT), web-based training (WBT), online education, virtual education, virtual learning environments (VLE) (which are also called learning platforms), m-learning, and digital educational collaboration. These alternative names emphasize a particular aspect, component or delivery method.
E-learning includes numerous types of media that deliver text, audio, images, animation, and streaming video, and includes technology applications and processes such as audio or video tape, satellite TV, CD-ROM, and computer-based learning, as well as local intranet/extranet and web-based learning. Information and communication systems, whether free-standing or based on either local networks or the Internet in networked learning, underly many e-learning processes.
E-learning can occur in or out of the classroom. It can be self-paced, asynchronous learning or may be instructor-led, synchronous learning. E-learning is suited to distance learning and flexible learning, but it can also be used in conjunction with face-to-face teaching, in which case the term blended learning is commonly used. 20<br>

E-Learning Key advantages of e-learning include:
Improved open access to education, including access to full degree programs[91]
Better integration for non-full-time students, particularly in continuing education,[91]
Improved interactions between students and instructors,[92]
Provision of tools to enable students to independently solve problems,[92]
Acquisition of technological skills through practice with tools and computers.
Key disadvantages of e-learning, that have been found to make learning less effective than traditional class room settings, include:
Potential distractions that hinder true learning,
Ease of cheating
Bias towards tech-savvy students over non-technical students,
Teachers' lack of knowledge and experience to manage virtual teacher-student interaction,[93]
Lack of social interaction between teacher and students,[94]
Lack of direct and immediate feedback from teachers,[94]
Asynchronic communication hinders fast exchange of question,[94]
Danger of procrastination 21<br>

E-Health and Telemedicine E-Health is a relatively new term in health care practice and one of the most rapidly growing areas in health and ICT today. The term encompasses a range of services that involve health care and information technology supported by electronic processes and communication. It involves the use of information and communication technology(ICT) to improve patient care. 
It has been defined as ‘the cost-effective and secure use of information and communications technologies(ICT) in support of health and health- related fields, including health-care services, health surveillance, health literature , and health education, knowledge and research'.(WHO 2005).
‘an emerging field in the intersection of medical informatics, public health and business , referring to health services and information delivered or enhanced through the Internet and related technologies. In a broader sense, the term characterizes not only a technical development, but also a state -of-mind, a way of thinking, an attitude, and a commitment for networked, global thinking, to improve health care locally, regionally, and worldwide by using information and communication technology'.(Eysenbach, 2001).
E-Health occurs in two forms which include synchronous or ‘real time' communications and asynchronous or ‘store and forward' communications.
Synchronous E-Health requires a communication link between two or more parties that allows a real-time interaction to occur. Synchronous telemedicine may use video-conferencing equipment with attachment of peripheral devices which aid in interactive examinations. For instance, a tele-stethoscope(eStethoscope) allows the consulting physician in remote location to listen to the patient's heartbeat and lungs, a tele-ophthalmoscope(eOphthalmoscope) and tele-otoscope(eOtoscope) allow a remote physician to examine a patient's eyes and ears respectively. Asynchronous E-Health involves the acquisition and transmission of patient's medical data such as radiological studies, laboratory results and biomonitoring information to a physician at a convenient time for assessment offline. A digital image is taken using a digital camera(‘stored') and then sent (‘forwarded') to another location. Asynchronous E-Health doesn't require the parties to be present at the same time.
Telemedicine involves the use of medical information transferred from one site to another through electronic communications to improve patient's health care including diagnosis and treatment. Telemedicine may be as simple as two medical professionals discussing a case over the telephone, or as advanced as using video teleconferencing systems. 22<br>

Identity Management System An identity management system is key to National development. Without it the verification that a person is who he/she says he/she is is very difficult.
The lack of an Identity Management System impacts
Tax administration – inability of tax authorities to prevent multiple registrations
Security – multiple crimes committed in several locations by single individual without them being linked to a single identity
Housing – higher cost to Primary Mortgage Institutions to verify identities of mortgage applicants
Banking - higher cost to banks to verify identities of loan applicants
Elections – higher cost to electoral authority to prevent multiple voter registrations
Nigeria is currently implementing its Identity Management System through the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) and biometric data capture of all citizens. 23<br>

Approaches to ‘leapfrogging’ Cloud not Physical paradigm- Use of virtual or hosted infrastructure rather that physical. Use of ‘pay as you go’ services rather than full up front costs.
Renewable energy adoption – Use of cheaper renewable energy with less impact on the environment
Automation- use of computer software and processes to execute processes based on defined business rules. Reduce errors, eliminate corruption risk points, provide visibility for optimization.
Encourage Innovation –the encouragement of youth and unemployed to develop innovative solutions and create wealth.
Provision of internet access to all- Allow the citizens to obtain information and resources available through the Internet to develop all sectors
Provision of Financial services for all- Use technology for financial inclusion, to allow access to financial services for all citizens. 24<br>

Conclusion Information Technology provides an alternative to fast track National Development
Information Technology provides a level playing field for National Development
Technology can be utilized to bridge the gaps in National development with citizens participation and sustainable technology policies
Information Technology and other emerging Technologies can help Nigeria to skip some steps and leapfrog to an advanced economy. 25<br>

Thank you Questions 26<br>

References FG to review science and technology Policy, Nigerians Abroad Website Sept, 17, 2010
Citizen Participation In Community Development Ohio State University Fact Sheet Community Development
Commonwealth ministers.com, Science and technology: Key to our national development
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The Role of Science and Technology in the Development of World Economy, alina8627,June 2011
Transformation agenda: the role of technical/vocational education in national development, Olusegun Ogunkayode , July 31 2012
The role of technical and vocational education in the national development of Bangladesh, GAZI MAHABUBUL ALAM, 27 March 2008
eHealth and Telemedicine in Nigeria, Dr Osbert Egiebor, MD, FAAP, FACR.
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Nigeria VISION 2020 Economic Transformation Plan: Addressing Nigerian development and the structure of the economy through education, Ngozika Mbajiorgu 27<br>