Institute of Information Management (IIM) has announced plans to host a national summit to discuss the importance of information management in Nigeria’s economy.
Adebayo Shittu, minister of communications, and Ogbonnaya Onu, minister for science and technology, are expected to discuss how proficient information management systems can transform Nigeria.
According to Oyedokun Oyewole, president/chairman, governing council, IIM Africa, going by the present economic realities, the national summit on information management has become a national emergency following the duplicity of data in various government agencies, which in itself is costly and difficult to manage.
This, he said, has also negatively impacted on government decisions in moving the Nation forward, as lack of centralised, timely, quality and adequate information has impeded on the economic growth.
“In this era of change, we must recognise that government alone cannot improve the situation in the country. To achieve our collective goals as a nation, we need to bring key stakeholders together across the country, from the private sector, to civil society, to government. If we do not work together, the situation just would not change. Various stakeholders need to understand their roles and responsibilities on how we can harness information to better help improve the economy.
“It is essential to identify the individuals and groups in the society who will contribute to the development of the system, identify those that it will affect from its introduction, and then develop a strategy for dealing with them, which is why a summit of this nature is essential at this very point in time,” he said.
Oyewole described information management as complex and seems overwhelming but as Nation, the country needs to understand its essence in this day and age for countless reasons. He said that there are so many tasks, information sources, questions, critical connections and processes involved.
“There are so many agencies and stakeholders who often use their own systems to store, capture and share important data. There are so many priorities and evolutions. There are disconnects between the back end and front office. And, last but not the least, there is just so MUCH information and data, ever more unstructured data, big data, small data, fast data, data everywhere which keeps growing at an astonishing pace without any plan in place for proper management and security.
“For a country like Nigeria that is trying to diversify the economy, we need to figure out how information management can help solve pressing challenges, make the economy run smoother, and address the needs of citizens. The good news: the mission of this summit is to create the much desired awareness, culture and conditions to capture, extract and leverage the value in the information managed by various stakeholders in the country and her ecosystem”, the President of IIM-Africa explained.
The theme for the summit is “Information Management for Change: roles and responsibilities of key stakeholders” and the special guest speaker is John Christian Montana, Consultant at Montaña and Associates, Englewood Colorado USA.
The summit is also expected to feature the induction and investiture of new members into various membership grades in the institute. Among those to be honoured at the summit include past and present public office holders, professionals, and captains of industries including leaders across the various sectors of the economy.
