Gov’t must invest in ICT to spur emergence – Expert

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) specialist and Business Consultant, Dr. Carlson Eyongabi Ngwa, has stated that, for Cameroon to attain emergence by 2035, Government must invest in ICT.

According to him, the world has moved from the industrial age to the information and technological age and Cameroon cannot remain indifferent in an era that is driven by ICT.

He was speaking to reporters in Buea recently, after delivering an academic discourse to over 500 newly admitted students of a private higher institute of learning, during a matriculation ceremony.

Quoting World Bank statistics on the number of people who have access to the internet, the IT specialist said Cameroon is ranked 103 in the world, with a meager 6.4 percent of the population having sporadic access to the internet.

The Cameroonian IT expert and Business Consultant resident in Switzerland further asserted that the position of Cameroon on the global standing does not speak well of a country with one of the highest number of scholars in Sub-Sahara Africa.

“With Cameroon being one of the most literate countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, we expect more people to have access to the internet to do research because there are available new materials, but, unfortunately, the trend is not so.”

Dr. Eyongabi Ngwa further opined that, if the apathy in ICT in Cameroon persists, no matter how many learning institutions the Government creates, the products from the institutions would be wanting in the job market.

“ICT has become a priority for most Western nations that is why people have become innovative. It is very difficult for us to expect our students to be innovative, lead or tap into this information age if we cannot provide the basic infrastructure.”

He decried the epileptic nature of power supply in Cameroon, which, he said, has been a perennial deterrent to ICT.

Because of frequent power outages, he went on, it is practically impossible to host a service in Cameroon.

“With the internet, if a visitor visits a website once or twice that is down, he will never return to that website again.”

The Business Consultant proposed that Government should improve on the internet bandwidth and underground optic fibre connection in Cameroon because, at the moment, only one active optic fibre is found in the country and is shared among the various networks, thus slowing down internet speed.

Cameroon, Dr Eyongabi Ngwa said, can only start tapping and benefitting from ICT such as Google, Amazon, Facebook, if the country can invest in infrastructure, have a stable network, have a dedicated bandwidth to support people, as such, people would start enjoying using the internet and Cameroon’s global standing will improve.