Establishment of ICT Training Centre for Human Development in Poverty Alleviation and Disease Control

The world is dynamic, it is changing and the only thing constant in life is change itself (Franklin O. Roosevelt). However, it is no longer lie that we are living in an era of information and communication technology (ITC), for all people to be part of the changing world requires adequate and timely dissemination of information through the various available means to both urban and rural communities at the nick of time.

This work is vital as it stands to serve as a case study to other local communities who undergo the same perils as discovered in Madovillage. Its detail is a written analysis about the intellectual and moral decadence of the people of local community called Mado because of their long period of the suffer of neglect and deprivation of right of benefiting from so many of the country's (government) development projects on Education, information and technology. As a popular saying goes “where there is no vision "information and knowledge"; people perish.” Mado village is an integral part of Jos, which is the capital of plateau state in Nigeria. Plateau state has an estimated population of about 4 million people with Mado having an estimated figure of about 5% of its populace and contributing enormously to her growth and development in terms of human resources and Agriculture.

Ironically, this local community is one of the most poorest and backward areas in the state when it comes to the issue of Education of the inhabitants and effective access to adequate information. In other words, there is almost, if not complete inability to finding a direct access to modern information tools that will empower and enhance their intellectual and moral capacity and offer them scope in the area of skills acquisition through training and the understanding of the global perspective of things. In order to proffer a sustainable solution to the decay discovered in this local community, this project is designed to introduce the challenges faced by youth, women and children of this local community with the aim to help them find the wisdom, strength and resources to solving it.

Project Rationale and Background

It is practically true that the growth of the use of information and communication technology and its tools in the field of education, health and in business organizations has seen great improvement in the recent times, also that technology has penetrated into the nook and crannies of the society in a pace that's tremendous, especially in the education sectors to become part of the teaching, leaning and training process through the use of computer and internet systems.

The question now is, how can the local people, who are dwelling in the remote areas of the society, who constitute the larger number of the society's workforce be part and parcel of the beneficiaries of this new dawn and blessings?

Therefore, the concept behind the programme of action with a thematic focus on setting up an ICT training centre for human development and what to expect after that in Mado Village is to ensure that the people of this local community have a taste of the pleasure of life in fullest by having a direct access and link to the abundance glamour of information and communication technology facilities available - that will enhance their academic performance and empower their teaching and leaning process through intense training for self development and capacity building.

However, this if actualize will improve their communication skills in terms of using the internet effectively and other communication gadgets to connect to people around the world, who are distant away from the local people thereby creating employment opportunities to the unemployed, solving the menace of rural/urban migration and reducing the level of ignorance, poverty, illiteracy, and disease amidst the local inhabitant of Mado village and other such remote locations in the country of Nigeria.

Findings of Investigation

To re-emphasize on what has already been stated, Mado Village is only used in this work as a case study to portray some of the challenges rural communities who are disadvantaged when it comes to access to information and communication technology opportunities in the country faced on a daily basis. The data collection and analyses of the findings of investigation to this work is based on the present direct one on one interaction with local people and collation of historical statistics of the problem.

In our findings after research into the livelihood of the people in the local communities in Plateau state and Nigeria in general with Mado local community as the focal point, it is discovered that the gap existing between folks in the rural and urban areas (communities) is so wide when it comes to the scope of the use of ICT facilities, and this is to the disadvantage of the local persons especially women and children who mostly face gender discrimination related problems, thereby contributing to the high level of ignorance illiteracy and vulnerability to the contraction of the disease such as HIV/AIDS, Malaria, water-borne disease and other STDs, which has now made life unbearable to them and the general battle against poverty in these local regions of the country a very difficult case.