Sierra Leone’s President, Dr. Julius Maada Bio, has on Thursday June 11, 2020 said that the Country is still contending with low levels of digital literacy, especially in non-urban areas, in the midst of persistent threat to cyber security. He made this statement during a virtual global digitization conference.
The President’s statement which was delivered via WEBEX, and on UN Web TV at the High-level Presentation of the United Nations Secretary General’s, (Mr. Antonio Guterres) Roadmap for Digital Cooperation – “Digital Challenges and Opportunities that Governments Face” brought together world leaders and other global dignitaries.
President Bio said, “But that, to my mind, the low level of digital literacy is the reason for such international engagements – to learn and discuss best practices and solidify cooperation agreements and productive partnerships that will help our small countries deal with these issues. But even before becoming President, I was firmly focused on leveraging digitalization, science, technology, and innovation for national development.”
“My arguments were simple. First, our world is heavily interconnected by information and communications technologies and digital citizenship must be inclusive both within and across borders. Secondly, we believe technology is an accelerator of development. Various digital technologies can drive various sustainable development goals especially in view of the limited and unequal progress in most of our nations towards achieving the SDGs. Especially, we believe that by harnessing the advantages of Goal 9 (industry, innovation, and infrastructure), we can make significant progress on delivering, measuring, and optimizing on other goals from education, entrepreneurship, agriculture, healthcare, transportation, and more,” his Excellency added.
President Bio believes that a digitally enabled Government is a more efficient government.
“We can eliminate time and process inefficiencies, corruption and red tape, and other service delivery inefficiencies that have held back development in our country. But there is a bigger imperative – that for Sierra Leone to participate fully in the future global economy and the Fourth Industrial Revolution, it needs a clear and nimble strategy for using innovation, technology and digitalization for inclusive development. Our aspiration therefore as a nation is not only to be digitally inclusive in compliance with international and regional guidelines, but to use innovation and digitalization both as solution and as a critical driver for efficient governance and national development,” he emphasized.
President Bio explained that the basis of an inclusive digital economy is a national digital identity platform, adding that they had strengthened the civil registration and vital statistics systems. He said that through partnership with KIVA and the UN, Sierra Leone developed the first block-chain digital ID platform in Africa, noting that it would enhance financial inclusion, public safety, and service access and delivery right across the board when fully implemented.
He said that his administration is eager to also explore new technologies and new possibilities and stated that the Drone Corridor Project which was launched the previous year, in collaboration with UNICEF, would put new technologies to the service of the Government’s development aspirations. “Drones will support everything from healthcare (especially maternal health), agriculture and food production, the environment (by monitoring green cover loss), education, and more,” he said.
He recognised that to take full advantage of opportunities and possibilities, his Government must enhance digital literacy in schools. He added that his administration plans more internet connectivity to schools, and would also soon convene a national forum for the future of education.
“We are part of such larger global initiatives as GRID 3 – a Geo-referenced infrastructure and Demographic Data for Development initiative that makes it possible to leverage state of the art data science, remote sensing, and data collection technology to make predictions about population distribution. We also have active partnerships with, among others, Estonia, South Africa, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Microsoft, MIT, Harvard, Yale, UNICEF, KIVA, that continue to enrich and enhance our national innovation vision. We are looking to explore new possibilities,” he said.
He further revealed that that the Government is currently using open source technologies, data models, and other content, and are also “committed to making our datasets and home-grown technology solutions open.” He revealed that his administration is open to partnerships and cooperation in overcoming challenges of infrastructure and inclusion.
“Our vision can be summed up in the phrase ‘Country-as-lab’ for science, technology, and innovation – a country eager to cooperate in digital technologies that will drive our development as a nation,” he stated.
By Stephen V. Lansana
17/6/2020. ISSUE NO.: 7847