Edo state on a digital radar

There is so much happening in Edo State at the moment. Elections are coming up on September 21, 2024, so the governorship candidates in the various parties are running from one end of the state to the other in frenetic campaigns to secure the votes of the people.

At this particular time, the people matter most, and politics is the only game in town. Quite exciting as this season would seem in the state, the downside of the convoluting scenario is that the helpless people are being subjected to a barrage of lies, fiction being woven and spilled out as truths but, which on the long run, would make the people more helpless, hopeless and much poorer.

Ha, my brother, democracy is good for the pockets of a few who lack vision beyond the precincts of their noses, experts in the effusion of baloney with gifted wizardry in manipulating the colours of reality, while turning white to black very effortlessly. Follow the campaigns, you will see that the politicians have exceeded the entertainment value of Nollywood while even adding a pigment of nastiness to their own efforts.

However, Edo State recently appeared on a major digital radar, a rare opportunity I opine, should not be mired in the colours of politics. A research by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), in conjunction with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), titled, Collaborative regulation: Accelerating Nigeria’s digital transformation, credits the state with a digital readiness to easily work with the Nigerian government in its march towards fifth generation collaborative digital regulation (G5) which can promote an enabling environment for digital transformation. The state possesses all necessary tech paraphernalia to build a modern state and develop an inclusive digital ecosystem.

The G5 framework goes beyond the narrow consideration of only telecommunications/ICT to a far broader one of each country’s readiness to exploit a fully enabled digital economy and society.

“The country reviews are an important tool for regulators and policy makers as they work to create an environment that promotes investment, competition, digital innovation, protects consumers, and ensures that the benefits of digital transformation are widely shared,” Dr Cosmas Luckyson Zavazava, Director, Telecommunications Development Bureau (BDT of ITU said.

In considering the place of Edo State in the nation’s digital ecosystem, the ITU research stated: “Edo State provides a good case study of how states in Nigeria can promote digital transition to complement federal activities. The Edo State ICT Agency coordinates all state-wide implementation, while the State Ministry of ICT is the main policy-making body.

“Edo State has a bold ICT-enabled vision to create a globally competitive state, to provide efficient and effective public services, and to become Nigeria’s technology hub,” the research observed.

Some listed initiatives of the state, according to the research, include: Structured ICT training programme for staff; All 72 ministries, department and agencies are already on the edo.gov e-government platform; Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with a fibre optic company to cover 18 local governments, including facilities along the route (hospitals, schools, etc.); Currently 1782 km rolled out, with zero rated rights of way for fibre operators; Three data centres, with co-hosting provided for SMEs; Establishment of Edo State Park, targeting 15, 000 software engineers within fives years; and Digitised records, including all land registration records.

These are some of the cardinal activities that have happened during the time of Governor Obaseki and they have been appreciated even globally because of their positive impact on the state and beyond, and even how such cerebral reasoning has positioned the state for growth. The country review was between November 2022 and July 2023.

Ordinarily, it is difficult for simple minds to understand why a government would not collect right of way (RoW) charges – seen as easy sources of generating revenue – from telecommunications companies, especially from a company charged with laying cables across the 18 local government areas of the state. It is difficult for simple minds to understand why a state would build a computer superstructure in order to have a complete command and control of all its activities and remove greedy mouths from the various channels which are now streamlined and can be viewed on a video wall. You actually need a certain level of cerebral elevation to feature in the new ecosystem and must thus be amenable to some level of training.

So, as the state struggles in the mire of politics, this writer is not expecting anybody to give Obaseki credit, especially if you don’t belong to his camp. Our genre of politics demands that even good deeds/achievements should be degraded to the level of little acceptance, if there is any acceptance at all. They must be bad-mouthed into nothingness. They can accuse the governor of being confused and leading the state on a journey of no return. They have done so, the politicians who see inclusive growth as rocket science. I feel sorry for their ignorance and I sympathise with Obaseki, the misunderstood.

Within the week, I reached out to a fellow who once worked with the governor but they have since parted ways in no pleasant circumstances. Without dredging up the root of your quarrel, would you be sincere enough to affirm some of the issues stated in the ITU report. With a ready answer, the fellow told this writer that Obaseki is structured and detailed and reasons on his feet. Some of the decisions he has taken, like building a computer network for the Civil Service, have denied the politicians their undeserved reward system, so they fight him daily. With just the input of a number, the Edo State employee would have all his/her details on the dashboard, the fellow said.

As a tech writer, I am happy that Edo State has a fibre optic ring that has connected most of the prime facilities, which makes WiFi available in some of these facilities. I have had the PDP candidate, Asue Ighodalo, make a little boast of that. Such profiting is allowed.

Unfortunately, our politics is about patronage and allegiance to political godfathers, about phantom developments and big cars to navigate roads that are in a very poor state, our politics is all about lies and demonstrated capacity to intimidate people into silence. Shock and awe is the name of the game. Often our politics is a war zone, and those without the bestiality to partake in it, must clap for the bold, the brave and the very cunning and vile ones among us.

Before Obaseki becomes a lame duck in the next few weeks, I want to observe that the ITU Research is an indelible pointer to a fact, that he has done well to position Edo State for inclusive growth, digital transformation and sustainable development that could manifest even in a much bigger way in the years to come. My only prayer is that whoever succeeds him, will have the capacity to read and interpret his efforts for the benefit of the people, without bias.