The chancellor, Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State, Bishop (Dr.) David Oyedepo, has commissioned the CU Centre for e-Government and e-Business Research on the institution’s premises.
At the event, which followed the plenary of the 2016 Covenant University Conference on e-Governance in Nigeria, Oyedepo underlined the need for the country to take responsibility in solving its problems, a statement said on Friday.
“We need to recover our bravery, celebrate our freedom, reclaim our right to bring solution to our problems,” he said. “It is high brain that drives Information Technology. IT can’t determine what you want to get; you are the one to find solution, and then technology will process it.”
While congratulating the institution’s vice chancellor, Prof. Charles Ayo, on initiating the centre and driving it, Oyedepo said Nigeria and Africa had the capacity to find solutions to their problems rather than relying on foreign countries.
Ayo said the centre was established with a view to improving the quality of delivery on the part of governance, as well as improving the quality of the wellbeing of the citizens.
The objectives of the centre, he said, are engaging in research into all facets of e-government and e-business in theory or practice so as to provide policy recommendations for governments in Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa; to serve as a clearing-house for information on development and innovations in e-government and e-business; to serve as a think tank for industry, academia, civil society and government; and to provide a platform for the development and testing of new applications design, specifically for usage in e-government and e-business practices in Nigeria.
He added that universities were supposed to be at the forefront of socio-political, economic and technological development of all nations.
“So, whatever issues we are facing as a nation today could be seen to have arisen from the lack or dearth of quality contributions from the Ivory Tower,” he said.
