How ICT is automating Rivers agencies and creating jobs
• Brainfriend app soon to shake the world • And, taking the youth away from hacking specialisation in ICT
Ateam of young men in Rivers State who broke out from a Nigerian university are making waves around Africa and beyond with ICT deployments under CINFORES that change the way things are done.
Already, the group is creating jobs, having over 150 IT experts t the hub in TransAmadi area of Port Harcourt, the state capital. Their exploits in the information and communication technology (ICT) seems to be transforming many agencies, institutions and departments in Rivers State.
Their latest foray may be the development and deployment of an application (app) known as Brainfriend which may change teaching and learning around the world.
At a pre-launch briefing in Port Harcourt, the director of finance and administration at CINFORES, Ikechi Nwogu, demanded for a new narrative in the Niger Delta saying the region deserved it.
He rejected the casting of the Niger Delta as a zone of
death whereas many innovative developments were being created by young people. “There is need to show the world that beyond violence and militancy, there are positive things happening in the oil region, the Niger Delta, and in the south-south of Nigeria. We must show that Nigeria is making headways in some areas as leaders”.
Pointing at the creative works in the Niger Delta, the CEO, Ibifuro Asawo, said its about ICT for development with such benefits as e-filing now being done in the Rivers State judiciary. There is
e-affidavit system, and an entire system of automating the judicial processes.
“The Rivers State University Teaching Hospital is now to do e-booking e-consulting, etc.. Land administration is also to be on e-system. The Rivers State Internal Revenue Service system is being automated and digital. Filing is now done electronically and even tax certificates are processed online. These areas are exiting the pilot stage.”
He hinted that the BRACED Commission, (the economic body for Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Cross River and Delta states) which went moribund years ago is coming back, this time, through IT Union. “There would be huge collaboration through IT to make all the states in BRACED to work in synergy and be on same page.”
On how the IT initiative is being developed, the CEO said demand drives improvement.
He said the best way to discourage youth from specialising in hacking in the IT industry is to show them better prospects. “This initiative helps to push the youth to positive initiative instead of hacking as the most attractive proposition in IT.
“For instance, ours is 17 years journey with zero capital. The vision will continue of the strong business model which is an enterprise. Schools use our product and we have over 2000 partner-schools all over Africa. Many states in Nigeria, schools, Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), are working with us. Its an education support app.”
Brainfriend coming:
It is something that we think would bring school to our homes. We always say we go to school, but we are thinking that more than ever before, school can come to our homes.
Asawo said: “Today we have come to do a pre-launch of Brainfriend which is Nigeria’s foremost e-learning and exam preparatory software conceived some 17 years ago. It has evolved in the past 17 years and today, we are calling the world to come and see some of its new features.
“This is an educational software that encourages effective teaching and learning by offering e-books, questions, answers with explanations, videos, animation, games, edu-social media, etc, as well as career guide and the national curriculum for teachers. Features and benefits of the solution app include over 70,000 questions and answers, over 25,000 theorems, definitions, formulae; over 60,000 subjects in primary and secondary schools including the three major Nigerian languages and entrepreneurial studies; prototype questions, Advance level questions in key subjects, etc.
“We have now included what we call ‘Study Groups’ for collaboration, live classroom, etc. The pandemic taught us that we could do things differently. So, we now have the live classroom. We have educational games all bundled together in the new Brainfriend.
“It is something that we think would bring school to our homes. We always say we go to school, but we are thinking that more than ever before, school can come to our homes.
“We are looking at opportunities where students, schools, parents and others would embrace this solution after the launch next month and use this to solve their problems.
“We started as four friends but now we are seven directors. We are now over 150 in the organization, but one third of this number is made up of people developing the solutions.”