OBI TRICE EMEKA
I have become accustomed to telling this story from the very first day I heard it: A certain man went to a restaurant and ate to his fill. When it was time to pay, the waitress looked him in the eye and told him not to pay as someone had taken care of his bill. As he left the restaurant astonished, wondering who paid for his bill, stood a giant billboard closeby and written on it were these words: ” the food you ate today was paid for you by another, please remember to pay for that of another”.
The moral lesson of the story is that our universe can only be sustained through our conscious efforts by investing today. This is why I was excited when I was informed that Johnbosco Anadobe, better known as Uga na Uga, will today be commissioning the ICT centre he built in his hometown, Uga community, Aguata LGA, Anambra State.
Information, communications technology, ICT, have become the crude oil of today’s world. A cursory look shows that the billionaires of today are mainly from the technology world. The World’s most profitable company is Apple Inc, an ICT company founded by two adventurous rookies in their 20s – Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. Bill Gates, the owner of Microsoft, an ICT company, for years was the richest man in the world. Apple Inc makes more money than the Nigerian government does.
ICT has redefined how we do things; it is the backbone for all our daily actions. You can now shop online and everything you can imagine can now be done with the click of a button. It is not a coincidence that the service sector, led by ICT, is responsible for over 60% of employment in most developed countries.
Johnbosco Anadobe is a thinking man; calm, smooth and a fixer. He foresees the future and makes adequate plans to mitigate any disaster. He understands that the future is ICT; from China to the USA to Brazil and all corners of the emerging world ICT is leading the process. He knows Africa lost out in the industrialisation age and can’t afford to lose out in this technology age where knowledge drives the economy as opposed to commodities. Hence, he has built this magnificent ICT centre at Uga, in Aguata LGA which will be commissioned by the Bishop of Ekwulobia diocese, His Lordship Bishop Ebere Okpaleke, so that kids from age seven and above can have a platform to familiarise themselves with technology from an early age. From seven years these kids will be taught how to code alongside various other digital skills necessary to survive in today’s world. The skill of today has gone beyond masonry and brick laying or sewing or other crude skills. It is digital marketing, data analysis, UI/UX and other skills that allow one to work remotely from any part of the world.
The Interesting thing about Tech is that you have to catch them early. This is where we must stop and recognise the intellectual fecundity of Johnbosco Anadobe who incidentally, is contesting for the House of Assembly for Aguata II constituency in the forthcoming 2023 election. This ICT centre is designed to catch them young, from age 7 and grow them till they become the next whiz kid that will provide technology-driven solutions for our drudgery. Among other things, it will also serve as a CBT centre for students from that axis writing their UTME examination. They will no longer have to travel far. Uga na Uga as he is fondly called, has promised to replicate this across Aguata II constituency, if elected.
In 20 years, when the fruits of these seedlings Uga na Uga planted mature, he will cement his name in history as the man who saw tomorrow and created the platform through which Anambra competed with the world to become the technology capital of Africa.
Obi Trice Emeka writes from Awka, Anambra State.