Abstract

The International Centres of Excellence for Telemedicine in Africa will be established at the Abia State University Teaching Hospital to promote National e-Health/Telemedicine Policy in Nigeria and throughout Africa, in cooperation with the World Health Organization and Global University System in Nigeria.

The Global University System (GUS) [1] aims to create a worldwide consortium of higher educational and healthcare institutions to provide the underdeveloped world with access to 21^st Century education and healthcare via broadband Internet technologies across national and cultural boundaries for global peace. The aim is to achieve “education and healthcare for all,” anywhere, anytime and at any pace. Central to this goal is the actualisation of the “Prevention of Mother-to-Child HIV/AIDS Transmission.”

1. Background

Economic interdependence among nations and cultures is spawning a global economy. Globalisation also highlights clashes of divergent cultures and belief systems, both political and religious. If global peace is ever to be achieved, global-scale education, with the use of the modern digital telecommunications, will be needed to create mutual understanding among nations, cultures, ethnic groups, and religions. The Internet is the future of telecommunications and can be a medium for building peace.

In recognition that the new world order is driven by quality knowledge and timely exchange of reliable data, information and ideas, man’s survivability in the information society will increasing depend on national and global information and knowledge networks. Today, conventional wisdom dictates that global development agenda and the new economy is based more than ever before on knowledge and innovation by skilled human resources, rather than natural resources, for global competitiveness.

1.1 Critical Concern in Nigeria:

The Federal Republic of Nigeria, today, with an estimated population of about 160 million people represents the single largest concentration of people of African origin in the Universe! While 80 per cent of this population lives in rural area and out of reach of primary healthcare delivery, 43 percent of Nigeria’s populations are youths.

The proponents of the National e-Health/Telemedicine Policy Project in Nigeria and throughout Africa is concerned that Nigeria is yet to meet the World Health Organisation’s (WHO’s) recommended ratio of one doctor to 1,000 people after 44 years of independence. Reliable data informs that there are about 26,000 registered doctors in Nigeria serving a population of 160 million. Subsequently, the doctor-population ratio is one to 6,000, a figure that is grossly inadequate by the WHO recommendation.

The worst affected by the low doctor-population ratio are rural dwellers who queue at clinics before they could see doctors. South Africa has a doctor-population ratio of 1 to 650 in the Western Cape. Even in South Africa, there is variation in the doctor-population ratio in the regions. For example, it is 1 to 30,000 in the Mount Frere Health District of the Eastern Cape. The majority of the countries in the sub-Sahara Africa also do not meet the WHO’s recommended minimum ratio of 1 to 1,000. In Ghana, the ratio is 1 to 12,500. There are fewer than 10 doctors for every 100,000 people in 24 of the 44 Sub-Saharan African countries for which the statistics are available, according to Ndioro Ndiaye, the United Nations Deputy General of the International Organisation for Migration.

In contrast, Cuba has a doctor population ratio of 1 to 165, South Korea 1 to 337, the U.K. 1 to 610, the USA 1 to 358, and Italy 1 to 165, according to the 2004 edition of the UNDP/Human Development Report. Ironically, based on relevant studies, there are more Senegalese Medical Doctors in the State of Chicago than in Senegal!

In addition to the doctor shortage, due to the AIDS pandemic, the life expectancy at birth in seven African countries dropped sharply recently as 33.9 in Zimbabwe, 35.7 in Swaziland, 36.3 Lesotho, 32.7 in Zambia, 37.8 in Malawi, 39.8 in Central African Republic, and 38.5 in Mozambique, etc., according to the UNDP report of 2004.

2. International Centres of Excellence for Telemedicine in Africa (ICETA)

All the above makes the proposed e-Health/Telemedicine Project for the establishment of ICETA a strategic imperative for Nigeria/Africa’s development. This is reinforced by the fact that the knowledge of modern medicine is now recognised as a very significant part of human development and survival in the 21^st Century.

2.1 Concept

The International Centres of Excellence for Telemedicine in Africa (ICETA) will be established as a part of the Graduate School of the Abia State University Teaching Hospital (ABSUTH) to offer Post Graduate and Master’s degrees in medicine, and will affiliates to similar bodies in Nigeria. It will provide education opportunities for all qualified and interested students from Nigeria, all over Africa and other countries of the world.

ICETA will also be a consortium with partnership of education and healthcare institutions, ICT Solutions Providers and NGOs, particularly benefiting those in isolated remote/rural areas for the eradication of poverty and illiteracy. The ICETA will have its headquarters in Nigeria and collaborate with Digital Partners Nigeria (DPN) and Global University System in Nigeria (GUS/Nigeria), which will affiliate with GUS [1] [2], at the University of Tampere in Finland. The philosophy of GUS is based on the belief that global peace and prosperity would only be sustainable through education. The prime objective is to build a critical mass and achieve “medical education and healthcare delivery FOR ALL,” anywhere, anytime and at any pace – above all, to prevent HIV/AIDS.

This project will be actualized through workshops and conferences for the mobilization and promotion of National e-Health/Telemedicine Policy in Nigeria and throughout Africa, in cooperation with the World Health Organization (WHO).

2.2 Objectives

The central objectives of ICETA among others are, but not limited to the followings:

Establishing regional/national policy for e-Healthcare/Telemedicine.
Establishing functional institutional framework for e-Healthcare/Telemedicine as a primary source of healthcare to improve the living condition of the people in rural areas who constitute a significant majority of the Nigerian population.
Building a critical mass for skilled capacities in e-Healthcare/Telemedicine.
Harnessing resources to improve healthcare services including remote diagnostic and treatment advice.
Building and sharing dynamic medical database and reliable e-Healthcare/ Telemedicine information system by doctors in a confidential manner and thereby improving clinical effectiveness.
Reducing the cost of healthcare delivery to a greater majority of the population – especially in the rural area.
Providing healthcare security at critical times of national emergency and disaster.
Contribute to the sustenance of world peace through improving standard of living.

2.3 Goals

The goal of ICETA and GUS/Nigeria is therefore to play a unique role in the socio-economic re-structuring, re-engineering and poverty alleviation agenda for Nigeria and also assist in promoting peace, development and international understanding through learning and intellectual exchange at the global level.

Furthermore, ICETA will mobilize and encourage hospitals and e-healthcare centres to use Internet to give patients second opinions online, for malaria, sickle cell anaemia, river blindness, HIV/AIDS, polio, cancer, heart disease and other conditions and also provide healthcare information aimed at eliminating the time and expense of hospital visits. Central to this goal is the actualisation of the “Prevention of Mother-to-Child HIV/AIDS Transmission,” – see below.

Doctors will also be taught (through a train-the–trainers program) how to effectively use computers to order tests and drugs, which has been shown in studies to reduce medical errors and catch patient drug allergies. Nurses will also be taught to use computers to track patients as they go through the primary healthcare centres and hospitals.

The ICETA will ensure that many medical records are computerized, such as lab results, drug data and even accounts of office visits in text files – which would be standardized in a format that can be shared. The ICETA will encourage government and donors to develop incentives to get doctors online. In this regards government will award grants to encourage the transition.

Available records show that in Africa and Nigeria in particular, the margin of error in medical treatment is multiplied and increases significantly, leading to the death of more than 2 million people annually. It is significant to emphasize that a great majority of these deaths occur in the rural areas and mostly among children and women. This accounts to the high infant mortality rate in Nigeria – ranked as the second highest rate in the world! Nelson Mandela, Nobel Peace Laureate, once said, “Giving life is NOT to die,” as referring to the fact that almost 300,000 women die at their child birth annually in Africa.

2.4 Missions

The mission of ICETA is to continually create, adapt and advance e-Health and Tele-medicine knowledge to transform local communities and improve human condition for global peace and economic development.

2.4.1 National and Continental Levels

The ICETA will contribute towards an improvement of the socio-economic conditions of the 835 million population of Africa in general and 160 million population of Nigeria in particular. This will be done through improving technology delivery infrastructure and access to shared knowledge in higher education and community-based integrated development projects associated with collaborative university research and extension services. The ICETA project will create a symbol of learning, creativity, national unity, and also establish a long-lasting culture of peace.

2.4.2 International Level

The ICETA will offer an opportunity for foreign scholars and students to come to Nigeria for courses and field research in areas of interest, particularly in e-Health and Telemedicine and community development. A linkage programme with foreign universities and training institutions from around the world will be developed in cooperation with GUS.

The e-learning system of GUS will provide ICETA with not only an opportunity to overcome the shortage of qualified teachers of e-Health/Telemedicine in Nigeria, but also its learners with top-notch professors from North America and other countries. For example, we are now working to implement the Virtual Class on Nutrition (VCON) e-learning course <http://www.umich.edu/~ninfa/vcond> from the University of Michigan (in cooperation with its affiliated University of the Philippines) to the School of Nursing at the ABSUTH. This course will include a module for HIV/AIDS victims and particularly for child bearing mothers.

3. Special Project: Prevention of Mother-to-Child HIV/AIDS Transmission

3.1 About ABSUTH

The mandate of Abia State University Teaching Hospital (ABSUTH) is primarily focused on providing and continuously improving the health care delivery of the entire community. The HIV/AIDS scourge now grossly challenges this mandate. The thrust of our response therefore, is to articulate commensurate polices for the recovery of our original mandate - through the implementation of Telemedicine project initiative.

3.2 Project Issues & Concept

Our long-term goal is to establish the International Centres of Excellence for Telemedicine in Africa (ICETA) as a part of the Graduate School of the Abia State University Teaching Hospital to offer Post Graduate and Master’s degrees in Telemedicine, and will be affiliated to similar bodies in Nigeria. However, during the course of our initial study, it became strategically imperative to upgrade our HIV/AIDS Programme – “Prevention of Mother-to Child Transmission” as a key priority of our objectives. This was informed by the pandemic and alarming incidence of the HIV/AIDS in Nigeria – particularly, the mother-to-child transmission.

3.3 Background

About 160 million people populate the environment under focus. While 80 per cent of this population lives in rural areas and out of reach of primary healthcare delivery, 43 percent of Nigeria’s populations are youths. This makes the subject under review very critical and worrisome.

3.4 Critical Concern

In Africa the HIV/AIDS scourge is real. It has now become the plague of our time and indeed the greatest terminator known to mankind today. It continues to threaten the sum-value of human endeavour and is now recognised as the greatest threat to our socio-economic as well as political survival as a people. According to Governor Donald Duck of Cross River State of Nigeria, “HIV/AIDS is spreading fast, especially in Africa. It has no cure. It is killing people as well as pregnant women who pass it on to their new born children with unimaginable consequences.” This makes the prevention of Mother-to-Child HIV/AIDS Transmission, perhaps the most strategic imperative for reducing the sustained damages of HIV/AIDS to mankind.

3.5 Brief Project Summary

3.5.1 Aims and Policy Thrust

The project aims to actualise the following:

To create accelerated awareness on HIV/AIDS and help reduce the ignorance of infection rate of mother-to-child transmission.
Applying Telemedicine based technology to promote intensive HIV/AIDS education, in rural communities - using local languages.
To compact the fear of the rural communities on HIV/AIDS stigmatisation.
Explore HIV/AIDS related issues and contribute to effective policy formulation.
To advocate the fundamental rights of HIV/AIDS patients to have access to affordable healthcare and treatment – using volunteers from ABSUTH medical community.
To establish a special HIV/AIDS Cadre (“Operation Village Health Cadre”) to champion sustainability of the project – applying Telemedicine technology.

3.5.2 Graphic Analogy of the Project

Figure 1

3.5.3 Structure

When fully established, ICETA will be a consortium with partnerships in education, community-health stakeholders, healthcare institutions, ICT Solutions Providers and NGOs, particularly benefiting those in isolated remote/rural areas for the prevention of Mother-to-Child HIV/AIDS Transmission, and the eradication of poverty and illiteracy.

3.5.4 Organisation

The organisational framework will be designed to carry out the following function:

Policy and Education: Having resolved to reduce the incidence of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, the organisation will focus on prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission by organising policy workshops. In this regards, ABSUTH and partners will implement such policies with help from World Health Organization (WHO) by building medical resource capacities for community service. Operation Village Health Cadre (OVHC) will also be established.
Applying Research and Development techniques in combating the spread.
Promoting sex education in schools, market places, churches and rural communities.
Involve and collaborate with NGOs and other working groups (globally and locally) to sustain the project and promote world peace.

3.5.5 Implementation

To attain effective implementation we hope to establish a functional framework through international collaboration. Roles will be assigned to collaborating partners. These roles include – amongst others:

ABSUTH will be responsible for coordinating Policy implementation. In this regard, a national workshop on “Mother-to-Child HIV/AIDS Transmission” will be organised at the workshop for establishing ICETA.
Funding the project: As a not-for-profit initiative, external funding will be required from donors and collaborators to actualise and sustain the project.
Capacity Building: ABSUTH is naturally endowed with facilities and knowledge to build human capacity for community health care delivery, which ultimately acts as guarantor for sustainability by the OVHC.

3.5.6 Outcome -- Targets and Expected Benefits

Some of the major outcome of our initiative that can be guaranteed will include, but not limited to:

Increasing HIV/AIDS country-awareness level – through popular policy.
Increasing the prevention quota in HIV/AIDS in the community.
Reduction in incidence of “Mother-to-Child HIV/AIDS Transmission.”
Reduction of mortality rate of HIV/AIDS infection.
Increasing access to HIV/AIDS treatment and healthcare through adequate program funding. Establish special program for HIV/AIDS orphans.
Improvement in the relationship between HIV/AIDS affected patients, their family and the community at large.
Promoting health security, community empowerment and contributing significantly to world peace and prosperity.

3.6 Plan of Action

Within the context of the entire framework, the project is designed to run in the first instance for three (3) years and in phases. The first phase of the HIV/AIDS component – Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission - will start at the workshop for creating ICETA and run covering 25 villages in 6 regions of Nigeria.

4. Global University System in Nigeria (GUS/Nigeria)

Global University System in Nigeria (GUS/Nigeria) is now being established at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), which will be a consortium in partnership with four other frontline educational and healthcare Institutions:

[1] University of Jos, Jos,

[2] Abia State University, Aba,

[3] Federal University of Technology, Owerri

[4] Rivers State University of Science & Technology, Port Harcourt

The Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) will act as a Secretariat of GUS/Nigeria, which will affiliate with GUS at the University of Tampere in Finland.

The Global University System (GUS) is a worldwide initiative to establish broadband Internet infrastructure for enhancing e-learning and e-healthcare across national and cultural boundaries for global peace – see its development history in the past three decades in References [1] and [3]. The GUS/Nigeria employs technological alternatives to promote access and use of the available technology for e-learning in educational and e-healthcare in medical fields. In a sense, the GUS/Nigeria at the OAU could be said as for the former and the ICETA at the ABSUTH for the latter.

Figure 2

As diagrammed in Figure 2, the GUS/Nigeria consists of:

a) NigeriaNet: A broadband Internet network that will enhance interaction among higher education institutions. The network will interlink these institutions within themselves and with communities in their vicinity, nationwide and internationally with the GUS. The network, by paving the way to communication, will ultimately enable life-long learning and e-learning in higher education. NigeriaNet will, by the same token, promote e-healthcare in hospitals, healthcare centers and clinics.

GUS programs and services will be delivered via regional satellite hubs, e.g., at the ICETA, that connect via high-speed satellite to educational and healthcare resource cites in developed countries, e.g., the U.S., E.U., etc. In a sense, the regional satellite hub is to be the major Internet Service Provider (ISP) for not-for-profit organizations in the region and the gateway to the outside world.

b) Local Community Development Networks (LCDNs): Regional hubs will link to other Telemedicine Centres of Excellence and educational institutions, hospitals, and NGOs via microwave or by spread-spectrum wireless Internet networks. This advanced wireless communication will make e-learning possible for anyone, anywhere, and anytime with capabilities of Internet telephony, fax, voice mail, e-mail, Web access, videoconferencing, etc. This is not only to help local community development, but also to assure close cooperation among higher, middle and lower levels of education.

Learners at higher education institutions affiliated with GUS/Nigeria will be able to take their courses, via advanced broadband Internet, from member institutions around the world to receive a GUS degree. Both the learning (students or lifelong learners) and teaching (professors) societies of partner institutions will also form a global forum for exchange of ideas and information and for conducting collaborative research and development with the emerging global GRID computer networking technology [3] [4]. Thus, the higher education institutions will close the digital divide, act as the knowledge center of their community and lead their community development.

5. Expected Benefits

5.1 Socio-Economic Benefits

Social benefits are indeed the development objective to be attained (including the results of technological and economical benefits directly or indirectly). This project of deploying NigeriaNet and LCDNs of GUS/Nigeria is a community development approach. First it will connect non-profit organizations (higher and secondary educational institutions, libraries, hospitals, local governmental agencies, etc.), and, at a later stage, with profit-making organizations (investors in these sectors), depending on the regulations of the federal government of Nigeria. This will allow having a global E-Rate. Subsequently, all applicable groups in the cities of the affiliated colleges and universities will be included. This will, in the long run, attract domestic and international investors particularly to the healthcare and educational sector. For sustaining application of e-learning and e-healthcare, more participants can share better the cost of an expensive digital satellite or terrestrial optical fiber trunk line. The use of broadband wireless Internet for the LCDN will make their participation easy so that the so-called "last-mile" problem to reach individual end-users can be solved more effectively. This approach will not only contribute to the problem of digital literacy among the poor, but also create new job opportunities for the graduates of the universities.

5.2 Community Outreach

In addition to the degree courses, the ICETA will be accessible to representatives of the communities it will serve. A range of courses, e.g., short-term training leading to non-degree certificates and diplomas, will be available to them. Both Nigerian, African and international students will be required to get involved in community development services inside and outside of Nigeria.

The following organizations and projects may also benefit from the use of the broadband wireless Internet of NigeriaNet and LCDN.

(a) Nigeria Medical Insurance Scheme

(b) Nigeria Education Trust Fund

(c) Operation Village Health project of Harvard Medical School [5] has already been successfully conducting with Sihanouk Hospital in Phnom Penh the use of wireless and satellite Internet for e-healthcare/telemedicine in remote/rural areas of northern Cambodia. ICETA will leverage on similar experiences to approach global donors whose initiative may benefit from the use of NigeriaNet and LCDN, together with Harvard Medical School, which has already indicated their willingness to assist ICETA project, in addition to the University of Michigan Health System.

(d) GUS is now assisting the World Health Organization (WHO) [6] for the construction of national e-healthcare policy with GUS/Nigeria with over 6 prominent universities in its membership. The central aim is to make Nigeria the African Hub for e-Health and Telemedicine. Similar programs are also in progress in Ethiopia, Malawi, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Mozambique, etc., and it is hoped that the GUS in those countries will collaborate to actualize the ICETA mission.

6. Financing GUS

During the Okinawa Summit in July 2000, the Japanese government pledged US$15 billion to close the digital divide in developing countries and for the eradication of poverty and isolation. During the G8 Summit in Canada in June of 2002, and at the Environment Summit in South Africa in September of 2002, they also pledged US$2 billion to aid education and healthcare in developing countries, respectively. The Japanese government recently pledged to double their funds, especially to African countries.

GUS projects will combine (1) the Japanese government's Official Development Assistance (ODA) funds and (2) Japanese electronic equipment with (a) the Internet technology and (b) content development of North America and Europe.

After successful conduct of the workshop for creating ICETA, we plan to apply for the Japanese government’s ODA fund for further expansion of this program.

7. Conclusions

Reliable studies have shown that a record 4.8 million people in Nigeria were infected with HIV/AIDS in 2003 alone. Sub Saharan Africa is the worst affected region with 30 percent of the total number in this region. In parts of Southern Africa, entire village have been known to disappear from the scourge of HIV/AIDS. This is a human catastrophe. Husbands die and leave wives behind – who then also die and leave children behind – endangering the world peace project equilibrium!

In Nigeria, the first cases of HIV/AIDS were identified in mid 1980s and the prevalence rate rose steadily to peak at 5.8 percent by 2002. The national prevalence rate reduced in 2003 and this contributed in dropping the global rating of Nigeria to 5.0 percent. That means that 3.6 million Nigerians are still living with the virus. Sadly, out of the 300,000 patients who qualify to receive the anti-retroviral drugs (ARV), only 20,000 Nigerians are actually receiving the drug for treatment, due to the very high cost of these drugs – thereby increasing the causality rate of non-survivals.

In light of the above submissions, unless we establish a dynamic institutional framework to build the critical mass of new professionals with commensurate skills in modern medicine, the much dreaded digital divide will continue to expand – with capabilities to disrupt global peace thus affecting the sustainability of the new economy.

In order to actualise the above mission and objective, a group is now working for organizing an International Workshop for e-Health/Telemedicine Practice in Africa (IWHTPA).

The ICETA Planning Committee has already secured assurances from reliable partners for land allocation and other facilities, which will become the central Headquarters of project. The founding of ICETA, therefore, is expected to contribute to the social and economic development not only in Nigeria, but also the entire continent of Africa. It is intended to help alleviate poverty, rebuild and restore the economy as well as the human dignity lost during past decades of conflicts.

REFERENCES (All URL below were retrieved on July 12, 2005.)

[1] Utsumi, T., Varis, T., and Klemm, W. R., (2003), Creating Global University System, Global Peace Through The Global University System, University of Tampere Press, Tampere, Finland

http://makeashorterlink.com/?I2F231019

[2] Varis, T., Utsumi, T., and Klemm, W. R., (Editors), (2003), Global Peace Through The Global University System, University of Tampere Press, Tampere, Finland, November, (ISBN 951-44-5695-5)

http://makeashorterlink.com/?M2D252E09

[3] Utsumi, T., (2003), Globally Collaborative Environmental Peace Gaming, Global Peace Through The Global University System, University of Tampere Press, Tampere, Finland

http://makeashorterlink.com/?E1D121E09

[4] Utsumi, T., (2005), “Global University System with Globally Collaborative Environmental Peace Gaming Project,” April 6

http://makeashorterlink.com/?O6D01210B

[5] http://makeashorterlink.com/?O17D325E9

[6] http://makeashorterlink.com/?D6A5318D9

[7] Uwaje, C., Reference Papers, www.nigerianitexpert.com

Dr. Dennis Oji is a distinguished Fellow of the International Society for Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology (SICOT), and also a resourceful member of many professional associations, i.e., Chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association Abia State, National Vice President of the Nigerian Orthopaedic Association, Fellow of the West African College of Surgeons, member of Nigerian Medical Council, Fellow of the German Society of Surgeons, Fellow of the International College of Surgeons (Nigeria) and Fellow of the German Trauma Society. He qualified as a Specialist in Surgery in 1975 and acquired the Sub Specialty Trauma Surgery in 1980. He became Consultant Surgeon and Deputy Head of Department of Surgery (Oberarzt) at the City Hospital Halle/Westphalen, Germany in 1976 up to 1981. Dr Oji is now Senior Consultant Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgeon at the General Hospital Aba and the Principal Consultant of Horstman Hospital Ltd, a model private Medical Centre for Trauma, Reconstructive Surgery and Orthopaedics – which he established in 1986. At Horstman Hospital, Dr. Oji centered his practice on primary health-care and delivered exemplary medical service to the Aba community and beyond. In recognition of his medical achievement and accomplishments, Dr. Oji was in 1994, appointed Senior Lecturer in Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery, Abia State University and Honorary Consultant of the Teaching Hospital in Aba. Dr. Oji is currently the Chief Medical Director of Abia State University Teaching Hospital since 2003.

Dr. Takeshi Utsumi is the Founder and Vice President for Technology & Coordination of Global University System (GUS) and the Chairman of the GLObal Systems Analysis and Simulation Association in the U.S.A. (GLOSAS/USA). He is the 1994 Laureate of the Lord Perry Award for Excellence in Distance Education. His public services have included political work for deregulation of global telecommunications and the use of e-mail and voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) through ARPANET, Telenet and Internet; helping extend American university courses to developing countries; the conduct of innovative distance teaching trials with "Global Lecture Hall (GLH)^TM" multipoint-to-multipoint multimedia interactive videoconferences using hybrid technologies; as well as lectures, consultation, and research in process control, management science, systems science and engineering at the University of Michigan, the University of Pennsylvania, M.I.T. and many other universities, governmental agencies, and large firms in Japan and other countries.

Chris Uwaje, a distinguished Fellow of Nigeria Computer Society, is the Principal Consultant and Chief Executive Officer of Connect Technologies Limited, (Developers of Enterprise, Banker Enterprise, Enterprise Knowledge Intelligence Groupware & Enterprise Stock Master Application); Guest Student on Informatics, University of Hamburg, Graduate of Informatics, British Institute of Engineering Technology and Control Data Institute, Frankfurt, Germany, Post Graduate Qualifications.

Over three decades of on-the-job IT practice as computer scientist – Spread across three continents (Europe, Africa and America), specializing in IT-Strategy Consulting - incorporating SIT Park project conceptualisation, design, implementation, project management and technical support. Software Engineering Solutions, Research, Design and Development (RD&D). Special professional focus: National & Regional IT Policy; Coordinating Chairman, Council for West Africa Information Technology Professionals (CWAITP); Immediate Past President of Information Technology Association of Nigeria (ITAN), and Vice President of Institute of Software Practitioners Association of Nigeria (ISPON); Member of National Inter-Ministerial Committee on Software development.