Restricting Importation Of Used Computers

AT the end of a recent Federal Executive Council meeting, both the Minister of Information and Communication, Mr. John Odey, and his counterpart in National Planning, Sanusi Dagash, had an interactive session with journalists. They informed the journalists of the decision by the Federal Government to restrict the importation of unserviceable computers and similar electrical appliances through stringent tariff regimes.

ACCORDING to both ministers, these measures were necessary to check the environmental hazards which unserviceable computers constituted and to encourage the indigenous production of computer parts. The government was uncomfortable with the quantity of old and unserviceable computers that were being brought into this country as scraps so they could be cannibalised to repairs faulty ones. The discarded parts, some of them with toxic and hazardous contents, are later burnt or disposed of in such a manner that constitutes environmental and personal risks to Nigerians.

ORDINARILY, the Federal Government’s plan to restrict the importation of used computers is a sound proposal, especially in view of the status of the country as a dumping ground for the industrialised countries. The reasons given by the government even sound progressive, especially the need to encourage the indigenous production of spare parts for computers. These reasons are in consonance with the need for the country to industrialise in the direction of globalisation. They are also proactive, as they lead towards environmental friendliness.

THE memory of the industrial toxic waste dumped at Koko in Delta State even underscores the relevance and importance of the plan of the Federal Government to discourage this practice in Nigeria. But if this plan of the Federal Government is to be properly situated in the Nigerian context, the need to exercise caution will be properly appreciated. For instance, in Nigeria today, there are too few companies or establishments that are involved in assembling computers and manufacturing computer parts. This is a poor reflection of the country’s desire to get on the globalisation train. Many of the Asian countries which were in the same level with Nigerian on the ladder of development have gone notches higher than Nigeria in terms of Information Technology and manpower now.

AS a matter of fact, there is nothing on the ground with which to classify Nigeria in terms of information technology and it is safe to regard the country as being in the backwaters of this sphere of human endeavour.

FOR Nigeria to access a fair knowledge of the nitty-gritty of information technology, these disused computers that are being cannibalised to repair faulty ones cannot be avoided completely, especially in a country where a comprehensive policy on such matters is lacking. The repair technicians will have to use these disused computers to repair faulty ones and gain some knowledge of the seeming arcane world of information technology. If Nigeria does not want this trial and error, then it must formulate a comprehensive policy on information technology and follow it through.

THE significance of learning from these disused parts was duly recognised during the interactive session with journalists. Mr. Dagash, the National Planning Minister, ruled out the possibility of a complete ban on fairly used computers when he said the government was aware of the inability of Nigerian local manufacturers to satisfy local demands for the products. If the government was perceptive enough to identify this fact, then it should be able to acknowledge the dilemma which such restriction could generate. It could unwittingly be creating an avenue for corrupt government officials to exploit the gap that will be created between the computers that are allowed in and those that may constitute an environmental hazards.

IN this peculiar Nigerian context, it will be wise to leave this issue well alone until the country will be ready to stand firm on its own to know which of these computers will be helpful in its bid to develop in information technology. As a matter of fact, this should be the issue that should interest the Federal Executive Council more than the fire brigade tactics of handling disused computers against which it is obviously helpless. The country needs a policy that will encourage the development of information technology. It needs more desperately the infrastructure that will help midwife this development.

IF these basic issues are not properly addressed, Nigeria will continue to be in the world’s backwaters in information technology. Its status as the junkyard of the world’s technology will be impossible to refute

Ekaette’s indecent dressing bill

SOME members of the National Assembly may have unkind words for the highly respected Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, over his comments on the bill on “indecent and ungodly” dressing. Some Senators thought that Nigeria’s mounting problems had to do with the way Nigerians dress. Senator Ufot Eme Ekaette, who sponsored the bill, apparently believes God is angry with Nigerians for dressing provocatively. Provocative and skimpy dresses may appeal to sensuous minds, but such must be banned, like the artists in Plato’s Republic, because they create economic distress, political upheaval and chaos in these lawmakers’ Republic.

BUT Professor Soyinka, author of A Dance of the Forest, disagrees. He thinks it is the lawmakers, and not the forest, that will be engaging in a dance of shame should they continue with deliberations on the bill. The Nobel prize winner did not call the bill a comedy, but he said it was laughable, saying that even the dead, the late Beko Ransome Kuti, would find it funny that the lawmakers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria were discussing an issue that violated the basics of fundamental human rights.

SHOULD these lawmakers be blamed if they accused Professor Soyinka of dabbling in issues that did not concern him? Besides, why should the debilitating Niger Delta situation trouble them, as Professor Soyinka suggested, when a more life-threatening national issue, such as indecent dressing, is causing imbalance in the nation’s economy?

PROFESSOR Soyinka’s anger at the lawmakers is clearly misdirected. He should be commending them for their legislative ingenuity. Even the fear of what would happen to other nationals like the Indians, the Japanese, the Koreans, etc, which he expressed, should not arise. The Indians, for instance, will look nice in the Benin traditional dress and we recommend the beautiful leaves and leather dresses of the Koma people for the Europeans. Maybe when eventually the bill is passed into law and the nationals of other countries begin to dress in Nigeria’s flowing Agbada, Babanriga or the colourful Efik’s traditional dress or the Yoruba Kembe, the highly respected Professor Soyinka will appreciate the super-imagination of the lawmakers.

NOT only that, we are confident Professor Soyinka and other critics will tender their unreserved apologies when the nation is decently dressed in economic prosperity and is returned to a harmonious way through this bill. Even the restoration of peace to the Niger Delta that is agitating the mind of Soyinka will become a reality with this bill.