Nigerian
ICT Gurus: Mending of Systems Operation for Efficient Service Delivery in
Nigeria
Poor service delivery in a
developing country like Nigeria is sometimes accepted as part of the norms. In
this country, It is possible to spend hours waiting for a less than twenty
minutes service and the service may be anything but qualitative and
quantitative. When going to hospital, police station, court or patronizing for
tailoring, carpentry services, etc, do not give yourself time because you will
likely to be disappointed by the time the services are rendered to you. The
ratio of “waiting time to service time” is best discussed as part of academic
exercise in tertiary institutions but not as a performance indicator for
service delivery of public and private agencies.
Service delivery is the ability
of service provider to give service to customers or citizens with satisfaction
based on speed, courtesy, quality and reliability. Service excellence means
exceeding customers’ expectation and paying attention to his/her utmost
satisfaction. Thus, service delivery focuses on expectations and needs of the
clientele. Fundamentally, four major factors drive the citizens’ satisfaction
with public service delivery; first, “timeliness” – satisfaction with the time
it takes to be served, second, “outcomes” – getting what was needed at the end.
The third “extra mile” – staff go extra mile to serve the clientele and lastly,
“fairness” – making the clientele to feel being treated fairly. This is exactly
what it means by service delivery, expected from responsible service providers
– public or private. Services are provided to customers or citizens through
system operation by the system managers. What is the percentage of citizens who
are satisfied with services being provided by agencies such as hospitals,
police station, schools, prisons, etc? Nowadays, withexponential increase of
population in the country, it is difficult to achieve satisfying efficiency in
system operation using traditional ways or methods.
Generally, service delivery to
clientele is done through system operation. A system is described by Wikipedia
as a set of interacting or interdependent component parts forming a
complex/intricate whole. Every system is delineated by its spatial and temporal
boundaries, surrounded and influenced by its environment, described by its
structure and purpose and expressed in its functioning. A system can be as
simple as bathroom system or as complex
as electorate systemor banking system and operation of such systems provide
service.
Traditionally, system is manually
operated and such traditional method ofoperation is embedded with many
challenges such as manipulation, delay and other human imperfections. In the 21st century, Technology
has changed the way systems are operated in an extraordinary way. It has
allowed some systems operations or jobs to be mobile that were previously
desk-bound, and enabled many workers to do their jobs from almost any location
globally at any time. Whenever there is any kind of a ‘work revolution’, there
is a related and required shift in skill sets. As technology evolves and
replaces traditional ways of system operation, it does not only change the
nature of the system, the work, including tools, practices and processes, it
also impacts the skills required to adapt to this paradigm shift. However,
original services that were created or enhanced by technology should be
maintained while being delivered to clientele in most efficient manner.Among
these innovations what is common is the ability to gather data, utilize and
present something meaningful for the benefits of the citizens.The innovation of
Consumer Electronics; electronic equipment intended for everyday use, most
often in communications and office productivity. These are technological
devices designed, manufactured and maintained to ease day to day activities of
people in a modern/advance way. Nigeria has not been left behind in using the
electronic innovation in spite of the current economic recession. Use of this
initiative by Nigeria could drive economic growth and improve the quality of
lives for the people by enabling local development and harnessing technology as
a means to create smart outcomes for citizens. This effort is a courtesy of
some Nigerian ICT gurus who have been consistently working to mend the systems
operation in Nigeria.
In the forefront of this noble
venture, EngrsMunir Ali Faki and Yakubu Ibrahim are assiduously making impacts
through their firm, Cap-Project Engineering. Series of innovations were
developed electronically using ICT for efficient system operation.To be called an
innovation, an idea must be replicable at an economical cost and must satisfy a
specific need. Innovation involves deliberate application of information,
imagination and initiative in
deriving greater or different values from
resources, and includes all processes by which
new ideas are
generated and converted into useful products. In business, innovation often
results when ideas are applied by the company in order to
further satisfy the needs and expectations of the customers.
Their first success story of the
ICT gurus is the use of ICT for operation of Pension Commission of Nigeria
(PenCom). A biometric solution was
developed to operate the new Nigerian Pension scheme under Federal Government.
The project was successfully done linking all the six zonal offices to the head
office in Abuja with the biometric solution on a virtual private network (VPN),
with the successful implementation of the PenCom project it gave an edge to
deploy similar solution of most of the PFA’s in Nigeria.
The second innovation, which was
the most important in this country, was the development of card reader for
Independent Electoral Commission {INEC) to successfully conduct 2015 election.
To even high level Nigerian politician,
the fear of card reader is the beginning of wisdom and a confidence
builder to ordinary Nigerian voter. Thecard reader was developed through
integration of a real time biometric solution for Nigerian voter’s register.
The project was the result of joint effort with another ICT outfit, Extra-Mile
Synergy limited. When the innovation was presented to INEC, it was apparently a
good opportunity for INEC to conduct free, fair and credible election that
could be acceptable by both Nigerian voters and International organizations.
The rest is now history as we witnessed the historic event in the nation
democratic process.
Another outstanding innovation
was developed for Kaduna Refinery Petroleum Company (KRPC) by the duo using
biometric solution. They deployeda wireless palm vein access control using a
FUJITSU US PATENT DEVICE, linked warehouses within a distance of 3 km, with a
control at the security office. This provided a near perfect security services
of the petroleum products of the KRPC.
The innovations have also reached
out to the hospitality industry where they partnered with Hawthorn Suite, a US
franchise chain of Hotels, ICT was deployed through installation and
maintenance of hotels door locks, integrating it with CCTV, Intercoms, and
overall ICT support services. The system builds a professional guests’ pass
using gatewaywhere a guest could be charge to use a high speed internet, in
addition to the compliment free service. Many hotels in Nigerian cities are
successfully providing these efficient satisfactory services to their
customers.
The innovative solutions for
efficient system operation are similarly applicable to security and high
technology sectors. For instance, the duo have developed devices such as
Prijector, a security device that can
connect people and display their contents of any device via wireless connection
on a TV or projector. Many other gadgets such as a rear view Holographic
projection solution,cheap automatic gate control using biometric, RF Card, Key
Pad or Remote Control are devices for remote system operation. The teams are
still working to develop innovative solution to many day to day problems for
efficient service delivery using the ICT. Areas that need to be covered are
numerous such as:-
1. Health Management System
2. Revenue Generation using
State Transport Authorities
3. Revenue Generation using
Mobile Abattoirs
4. Waste Management system
using Recycling Plant
5. Advance advertisement
system to improve revenue generation and marketing developments
6. Smart city and related
services such as:-
v Smart Museums
v Landmark app
v On-the-go taxi ordering
services
v A meeting place with all
relevant furnishing
v Delivery services
v Smart parking services
7. School portal where
opportunity for equal education is served
8. Consumer Electronic
Village Hubs (CEV Hubs)
9. Portal for affordable farm
produce direct from the farmers
10. Tax collection using NFC
card
11. Automated Toll Gates
system using RFID
12. File tracking system in
Ministries, Agencies and Departments of Government using RFID
13. National Saving Scheme
with full automation
14. Automated land tax, ground
rent collection using GPS e.t.c
While it is important to appreciate the deployment
of ICT for system operation, but it is equally important that government should
lead in this innovative venture. Nigerian cannot afford not to use this God’s
given ideas to move the country forward.All hands must be on deck to use ICT
solutions. Click to download newspaper version
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