Governor Shekarau, come to the aid of Ado Bayero House, implement the
ICT policy
By
Abdulaziz Ahmad Abdulaziz
I feel annoyed and disheartened whenever I pass by this magnificent, ten
storey building named after His Royal Highnerss, the Emir of Kano,
Alhaji (Dr.) Ado Bayero, for the sympathetic condition of the building.
The house was built during the administration of the first
civilian governor of the then Kano state (now Kano and Jigawa states),
Alhaji Muhammadu Abubakar Rimi, to supplement the then state government
secretariat (Audu Bako secretariat) and Gidan Murtala offices. However,
at that time, the project was not finished hence, the building was not
provided with doors and windows and not painted as well.
During the previous government, of Eng. (Dr.) Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso, a
contract was awarded to make the building habitable, which included
installations of windows and door frames, electrification, water supply
and provision of furniture. The aftermath of this contract was
unyielding as well as furniture was not provided. However, the building
was completely painted (especially from the outside) and windows and
door frames provided.
When the present administration assumed power, it promised that it will
not abandon any meaningful project started by any previous government in
the state. Therefore, it promised to make use of Gidan Ado Bayero
accordingly.
In the course of discharging human development projects,
in March, 2004, the state government set up a strong committee under the
chairmanship of Prof. Ibrahim Shehu Diso to map out a way for the state
to follow so that it might catch up with the rest of the world in the
field of Information and Communication Technology (ICT).
The Prof. Diso’s committee in its report to the state government which
was optimistically tagged “ Kano can do it”, was submitted in August,
2004. It recommended the establishment of an ICT park for Kano state,
even though, the committee did not suggest its location.
Thereupon, seeing that the ICT park issue was again
reiterated in a white paper submitted by another committee headed by Dr.
Mansur Muhktar which was constituted to make careful study of the report
that was ab initio presented by the Prof. Diso’s committee, the office
of the Special Adviser to the Governor on Education and Information
Technology, proposed the Gidan Ado Bayero to accommodate the
well-acclaimed and cherished ICT park. In his speech during the
presentation of the 2006 budget to the state House of Assembly, Governor
Ibrahim Shekarau reaffirmed the state government’s determination to
establish the park as he said that a provision was made in the year’s
budget to actualise this plan, and Gidan Ado Bayero has been approved to
be used for that purpose.
This is a welcomed development especially, if one is
opportuned to know how they designed the place to be as described by Dr.
Bashir S. Galadanchi, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Education
and Information Technology, during the erstwhile Kano Economic Summit,
where he even provided a model plan of the building as proposed by his
office. As observed, states like Lagos and even smaller ones as Ondo
have ICT villages, so what of a commercial city state of Kano ?
Therefore, to have an ICT centre at this crucial time is of paramount
importance.
The blueprint mapped out by the state government on the
building is commendable and sound from every perspective. However, to
write or to propose is just a landmark, but the crucial aspect is the
implementation. To transform the blueprint from black and white into
visible effort is what seemed to be the tough problem now.
In this light, I wish to use this medium to call the
attention of the state government with a loud voice, on the need for it
to strive in accomplishing that good blueprint. Needless to say that ICT
policy if properly implemented will really yield fruitful results to the
economic, educational and socio-political development of our noble
state.
ABDULAZIZ AHMAD ABDULAZIZ FAGGE,
mylittlewisdom@yahoo.com.
351 Fagge B., Kano .
