The Nation Newspaper

Tag: adoption

  • Low adoption of cloud computing threatens growth

    THE low adoption of cloud computing technology may stop Nigeria from achieving growth in the economy, the Group Executive, Business Development, Director BCX Group, John Jenkins, has said.

    Speaking with The Nation, he said: “It would take a huge amount of speculation to put a number to this growth, but it can be argued that without cloud computing, the Nigerian economy would find it difficult to meet the predicted double digit growth percentages generally expected by economists.

    “In most markets, cloud spend is merely traditional information technology (IT) infrastructure and support spend redirected towards a complete service, so our clients traditionally see the opposite; a reduction in their total cost of ownership as opposed to an increased spend. Of course there is a case where there is an untapped market where clients that can benefit from IT infrastructure are not spending any money due to the lack of appropriate solutions.”

    According to him, the cloud technology holds huge potential to cutting down IT spend of firms, adding that it will also remove the barriers of indigenous firms in the country face to compete on the global scene.

    “Conservatively, this new market (cloud computing) can translate into a net growth in IT spend of (between) $3 and $5 million (I calculate 20 per cent of Gartner forecasted IT Services growth of $30 million) per annum over the next three years.

    “But as cloud services remove the barriers to entry for Nigerian companies to compete globally, the positive impact on the larger economy is immense,” he said.

    Acording to him, like the Nigerian economy, the IT sector is vibrant and growing at a pace where, unfortunately, appropriate skills are difficult to come by.

    “The economy is growing at a pace where appropriate skills are hard to come by, and often the available skills were developed so quickly that they have not yet matured in terms of experience and best practices. Likewise, resources such as spares and capital are often not available for planned and strategic initiatives as they are quickly absorbed into expansion projects. The IT fraternity in Nigeria has found innovative ways to overcome these challenges, but at the expense of best practices, long term strategy and scalability,” he lamented.

  • Ondo tribunal fixes April 23 for adoption of addresses

    The Ondo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal yesterday finished hearing petitions arising from the conduct of the October 20, last year, governorship poll.

    The three-man panel, led by Justice Andovar Kaka’n, fixed April 23 for the adoption of the addresses of all parties.

    This followed the closure of the Labour Party’s (LP’s) defence on the petition of the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP’s) candidate, Chief Olusola Oke.

    The LP did not call all its witnesses before closing its defence. The closure was announced by its counsel, Mr. Yusuf Alli (SAN).

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) followed suit and closed its defence.

    LP’s witnesses were cross-examined by Oke’s counsel, Dr. Kayode Olatoke.

    Akafiri James from Akoko North West, Ward 12, claimed to have been accredited and participated in the election, but it was discovered under cross-examination that his name was not ticked for accreditation on the voters’ register.

    Moses Ojo claimed in his witness statement on oath that the election ran smoothly in his polling unit, but later said he could neither read nor write. He later denied his name on the voters’ register.

    Adefarati Babatunde from Ikun-Akoko said he could neither read nor write and claimed to have served as the polling agent at Ikun Unit 005.

    He told the tribunal that he did not vote in his polling unit.

    Abimbola Bolade from Ero Ifedore said the poll went on smoothly in her area, but could not defend cases of multiple voting and voting without accreditation alleged by Olatoke.

    Aluko Samuel from Ifedore caused a stir when he said the tribunal has no jurisdiction to ask whether his party trained him to be a polling agent before the election.

    Biola Jacob from Ile-Oluji/Okeigbo agreed that cancellations were made on form EC8A and that they were not endorsed by presiding officer because his signature was missing.

    The hearing of petitions ended after the cross-examination. Justice Kaka’n thanked the lawyers for their maturity and orderly conduct.

    Responding on behalf of the counsel, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN) hailed the conduct of the judges and stressed that the rule of law is the binding force.

    The tribunal was inaugurated on November 22, last year. It has 180 days to hear the petitions.