THE President of Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) and Director, Centre for Information Technology and Systems (CITS) University of Lagos, Professor Charles Onuwa Uwadia, has charged Nigerians on the need for software development in the country.He said that software remains the e-revolution that can produce solutions, products, goods and services in a flexible, cost effective and timely manner worldwide.Uwadia who outlined the roles of software systems in electronic revolution (e-revolution) worldwide at his inaugural lecture at the University of Lagos last week, said e-revolution was made possible through advancement and development in areas such as the Internet, cloud computing, and handheld technologies all of which, he added, were enabled and engineered with software.In his words, huge research and development activities are ongoing in these areas involving new ideas and concepts, adaptations and reuse, requirement specification, design, outright coding, and simulation, and software implementation remains the most feasible option for realising these innovations.There is no great deal of records or literature chronicling the active participation or contributions of Africa or Nigeria in the two earlier revolutions - Agrarian and Industrial. Aside for the contributions of our kiths and kin in the diasporas, it is safe to say that we were onlookers, bystanders and at best beneficiaries and consumers of those two revolutions. The e-revolution, information society, knowledge economy has been with us for quite some time, and is still unfolding. Critical questions need to be asked. How far have we faired in this emerging order What have been our contributions so far How are we fairing presently What is our vision as a nation to participate in the new order What is our mission What are our strategies for achieving our vision and mission In particular, what is the fortune of software systems in all of these The 21st century has been referred to as the digital century and we need to take digital advantage of the emerging scenarios in order to minimise the challenge of the digital divide thereby avoiding digital disaster that could lead us to becoming a digital colony.Uwadia listed some recommendations of what Nigeria needs to do if she must join the club of digitally wealthy nations, to include, setting up framework for participating in e-revolution, software development policy, software development curricular in educational institutions, development of the software industry, and adopting computing and computerisation as a way of life among others.On the issue of setting up framework, Uwadia said Nigeria does not have to stretch itself too far in order to determine the direction to go and what to do.We can fall back on global documents that serve as path finders - the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS), in particular, the Geneva and Tunis declarations and their derivatives; Millennium Development Goals (MDG). A blend of these documents with some of our national initiatives such as National Economic Empowerment Strategy (NEEDS), Vision 20-2020, National IT Policy and ICT for Development (ICT4D), and their proper implementation will put us on the path of active participation in the e-revolution. I wish to note with gladness that the National IT Policy of 2001 has been reviewed by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) working with stakeholders. The reviewed Policy should be approved by the Federal Executive Council without further delay for full implementation, he said.For software development policy, Uwadia advised in his inaugural lecture that a national policy on software development should be developed and implemented. The policy is to be derived from the National IT Policy framework. This has become a strategic imperative for nation building, development and creation of wealth. I am happy to report that NITDA has recently set up a Committee headed by Professor O. C. Akinyokun of the Federal University of Technology, Akure, to produce a National Policy on Software Development.In the area of software development curricular and instruction in educational institutions, Uwadia said software development principles, techniques and tools should be accorded greater attention in the curricular of Computer Sciences / Information Technology programmes in our educational institutions. Exposure to programming at the most basic form should begin at either kindergarten or primary school level.Referring to Prof Adetokunbo Sofoluwe, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Uwadia said his experience over the years had shown that many students loathe programming, perceiving programming courses as difficult subjects that should be avoided where possible, and where the courses are compulsory, the students do everything possible to obtain pass mark. This, he said was similar to the perception of mathematics by students in secondary schools, even though programming remained interesting, enjoyable, stimulating, fulfilling and profitable. We should create incentives and motivation for the learning of programming - this can be done by creating stimulating learning environment through the provision of adequately equipped computer laboratories; award of prizes and according recognition for outstanding performance, formation of software development clubs in schools as networking for the exchange of ideas and knowledge, organising more software competitions in schools. Teachers and lecturers handling programming courses should reskill and retool regularly and they must keep abreast of development in the area.In the area of development of the software industry, Uwadia who is also the President of Nigeria Computer Society (NCS), explained that in the knowledge economy, the software industry remained the power house of any nations socio economic development. The software industry creates value to the society in the area of services delivered through software systems; it empowers youths in a sustainable way through the creation of jobs. Through the software industry, Nigeria as a nation can assume a global identity by being an outsourcing destination, or on the strength of product brands and identity. In order to participate in the e-revolution, Nigeria has to be a notable player in the software industry, he said.Speaking on adopting computing and computerisation as a way of life, Uwadia said the new world order envisages a global society where processes and activities are performed seamlessly with the enabling power of information technology. As a nation, it is obvious we need to do more than we are doing; many areas of our public sector, in particular, need to be computerised - schools, hospitals, airports, ministries, and parastatals. All around us, we can see glaring evidence of inadequate, ineffective, and non deployment of IT. It is my considered opinion that a systematic and sustained implementation of the revised National IT Policy and the ICT4D documents could change this situation. Increased level of computerization and deployment of IT is a sure way of motivating the indigenous software industry.Speaking on the imperatives of software development, Uwadia said systems software refers to the files and programs that are essential for the important activity on the computer. They act as the first layer of software after the hardware must have been installed. They are essential because without them other categories of software cannot be processed by the hardware. The programs that form part of the system software include operating systems, assemblers, compilers, file management tools, system utilities, and debuggers. Unlike Application software, however, system software is not meant to be run by end users. Since system software runs at the most basic level of a computer, it is called low-level software. It generates the user interface and allows the operating system to interact with the hardware. Users do not have to worry about what the system software is doing since it runs in the background.Application software, also known as an application or an app, is computer software designed to assist the user to perform singular or multiple related specific tasks. It helps to solve problems in the real world. Examples include student records software, examination result processing software, enterprise software, accounting software, office suites, graphics software, and media players, Uwadia said.
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