Information technology strategies for Africa's survival in the twenty‐first century: IT all pervasive

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Abstract
This paper discusses the status of information technology (IT), at national, organisational and individual levels, as we approach the twenty‐first century. The paper is written within the context of developing countries, particularly Africa, and identifies some of the common problems and constraints militating against effective IT adoption and utilisation in these countries, such as low IT literacy, inadequate human resource capacity for IT development, inadequate information and communication infrastructures, absence of action oriented national IT policies, poor IT delivery by vendors, lack of co‐operation among and within countries, etc. The paper asserts that in the twenty‐first century, IT will inevitably pervade all aspects of our lives and, as such, there is need to prepare ourselves at national, organisational and individual levels. Strategies for such preparation are suggested. The paper cites some success stories in harnessing IT for socio‐economic development with reference to the area of networking and its impact on some areas such as health care and academic research in Africa. The paper notes, however, that a more significant success rate has been in IT applications of a smaller scale, such as applications at corporate levels and in government. Some of these examples are cited. The paper concludes that all indicators show that IT is going to be a major driving force of socio‐economic development, and that those not yet participating in the IT revolution should prepare to do so soon otherwise they will not reap the benefits of being part of the ‘global information system’.

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