THISDAYonline

Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, has said acknowledged technology as "absolutely essential and the key to advancement" in the development of any country. Soyinka, who was the special guest at the occasion of the investiture ceremony of Gbenga Sesan as Nigeria's IT youth ambassador made this pronouncement while awarding the plaque of excellence to Sesan, at the Muson Centre recently.

Calling Sesan a young laureate, Soyinka said his recognition of IT's importance was despite the fact that he considered himself IT illiterate. He said IT had come a long way from its fridge-sized clumsy beginnings when he used to know it as cybernetics in the early 60s. He said it was used then by goggle-eyed professors who used it to mystify their students.

He said now the world no longer relied on natural resources but on human resources. For this reason he congratulated the Executive Cyberschuul initiative and hoped for women finalists in the coming editions. Sesan was also presented a cash price of N100,000 by past president of the Nigerian Society of Engineers, Engr Teju Oyeleye.

In his welcoming remarks, CEO Executive Cyberschuul, Lagos, Engr Titi Omo-Ettu, said that society has no moral right to seek for excellence from youths nurtured in an atmosphere of mediocrity. He said the ceremony sought to draw attention to the common trend in Nigerian policy formulation and implementation which is dependent on foreign expertise, sometimes to the total exclusion of abundantly available and relatively cheaper local talents. "We want to make an appeal for the reversal of this negative bent at all levels of policy formulation and implementation", he said.

"The youths represent the future and we cannot aspire to greatness without harnessing their abundant energies, ingenuity and creativity as a formidable weapon for growth", he said.

Omo-Ettu said Cyberschuul was using the investiture ceremony to reinforce and inaugurate its belief in a youth development program in IT. He said through the Internet the world had truly become a global village. He observed that someone behind a PC in Ibadan now had the same opportunities and potentials of access to information as another person behind a PC in New York for so long as they both have access to the Internet.

"A website designer in Nigeria now has the potential of accelerated development and access to wealth by the possibilities of offering his services as a consultant to his American counterpart, courtesy of an enticing cheap expertise in Nigeria. That is the challenge for us", he said.

A short presentation of the winning website did a lot to establish to those in attendance the quality of Sesan work. The star design was chosen over other entries because it had inculcated more features and research work than any other entry. It had things like

an opening intro. plus a default page which transforms into the home page, a date applet plus a hit counter, more pages and more links than any other entry, a virtual tour of Cyberschuul and best online registration form.

In addition to these the judges saw Sesan's entry as appealing, creative, anticipatory of visitors' questions, focused, easy to maintain and a potentially big site

On behalf of himself and his colleagues, Sesan thanked the Executive Cyberschuul for believing in the Nigerian youth. He stated his belief that the force of change would come from the youth . He said: "IT is an opportunity to move away from total dependence on oil."

The Award ceremony was the highpoint of a competition established to identify young Nigerians who possess the potential to develop skills which can make them rank among the best in the world. Gbenga Sesan's winning entry was one of 24 submissions from Lagos, Ibadan, Benin, Abuja, llorin, Minna, Abakaliki, Owerri, and Zaria. 59 persons had initially indicated interest in the competition which was open to youths in the country below 25 years

Second and third-place runner-up certificates went to Olajide Kehinde Lawal and Oluwafemi Afolabi Ashiru, respectively

The Executive Cyberschuul competition was flagged off on June 4, 2001 and was closed on September 15, 2001.

As part of his winnings, Sesan, with support from the Executive Cyberschuul will be sponsored to all Internet-related conferences and seminars which hold in Nigeria in the year 2002. In his role as IT youth ambassador, he will also be encouraged to offer one-day coaching classes to Nigerian youths across the country who are willing to develop themselves in website development, and Internet Applications. Such persons will be required to constitute themselves into small groups, invite the winner for an agreed period of time, pick up the bill for his transportation and arrange suitable local accommodation and transportation for Sesan. Sesan now has the part-time retainership of the Executive Cyberschuul where his services will complement those of other senior consultants.

Gbenga Sesan is a 24-year-old Electrical & Electronic Engineering graduate of Obafemi Awolowo University. At the time of the competition he did not have a computer of his own.

Sesan's reign will be for 2 years until March 2003 when another competition will be announced.