Building Digital Technical Capacity at Nigerian Universities:
Laying the Foundation for Greater Digital Participation and Collaboration

Institutional Partnerships Program
PROGRESS REPORT
October 31, 2002

Section I: Quantitative Reporting on USAID Indicators

Section II: Qualitative Reporting

1. Project Summary:

The partnership between the University of Iowa and the Nigerian National Universities Commission (NUC) seeks to develop the capacity of technicians and computer support personnel to develop, maintain, and promote the use of computers and networks at Nigerian universities. It also seeks, in partnership with Kirkwood Community College, to create links between the University of Iowa and multiple Nigerian universities via the Nigerian National Universities Commission (NUC).

Through on-site consulting sessions and ongoing correspondence with university administrators and technicians, the implementation and integration of information technology has been significant at the academic institutions of our partners. 

2. Major accomplishments in the reporting period.

• A LAN composed of five workstations and a server donated by The WiderNet Project was set up at The School of Public Health of The Gambia College by one of our Nigerian trainees.  Ms. Saweda Liverpool installed a copy of The WiderNet Project Digital Library and provided training to students (See the report...)

• One more trainee passed Learnkey's A+ Master certification exam and we expect about a dozen more to do the same in the next year.  We've committed to certifying as many people as they send.  (See certification results...)

• Project staff members have continued to do considerable technical consulting with Nigerian partners.  In addition to assisting technicians to monitor and manage Internet connectivity, the staff members have advised and given quotes on satellite technology.

• Director Missen provided general training for MIS staff and College of Medicine IT staff at the University of Ibadan in May.

• Director Missen consulted with UNIJOS staff at the Computer Centre to plan future trainings and set up the WorldSpace radio.

• Participants have maintained their correspondence with other participants and trainers via email. They receive frequent news via email and occasional CD-ROMs with updated software and training materials. Participating institutions and trainees conduct training sessions at their home institutions and provide a summary report on outcomes.

• The WiderNet Project has continued to provide training and resources to a visiting Nigerian scholar from the University of Jos and has extended an invitation to the Registrar of the University of Port Harcourt to study the use of Information Technology processes in the administrative functions of universities.  (Meet the visitors...)

• 3Com Corporation donated wireless technology equipment a network switch and a network router to the WiderNet office for use in local and wide area networking with a total value of $6000.

• Microsoft Corporation donated operating systems and software for the WiderNet Project office to set up demonstration servers and host WiderNet Project applications and Web sites.  The donations include: Windows 2000 Server, SharePoint Portal Server, and SQL Server 2000; Frontpage software; and books bringing the value of the total donation to $131,000.

• EZ-Ref Customized Courseware donated a complete computer training courseware library for the purpose of training Nigerian University staff.  The total value of the donation is $3500.

• On the side, we have continued to collect donations of computers for a second shipment to our partner universities in Nigeria.  We have already received 100 computers from local and regional donators.

• The WiderNet Project has been featured in several articles during the last reporting period.  (See announcements page...)
   

3. How have these activities contributed to sustainable development in the host country?

The technical training contributes to ‘sustainable development’ in several important ways from an institutional perspective. Upgrading the skills of the Nigerian technician will have the effect of ensuring that scarce institutional resources are used more effectively, expensive equipment and IT systems will be maintained and upgraded, and improved ICT systems and applications may offer revenue generation possibilities through user fees and/or service charges and consultancies to help sustain the development of the ICT infrastructure and services.

Providing advanced training for technical staff will also provide an incentive for staff to remain with the institution and reduce turnover in personnel.
 

4. Project Status.

For a myriad of reasons – none of them insurmountable – we are essentially one cycle behind in this schedule. 

In 2001, Nigerian university staff staged a wave of strikes that temporarily shut down universities.  These strikes delayed the project since most of our linkages are with the universities.  We have also had difficulty finding trainers willing to travel to Nigeria after the terrorist attacks of September 11 and have had to rely on email coaching, stateside testing, and distance troubleshooting at the WiderNet Project office.  As well, the last scheduled technician training was postponed due to leadership changes at our partner, the NUC. 

We have completed one full cycle of the proposed project:

We produced and provided trainees with a CD containing over 15,000 documents for learning a wide variety of computer technical skills. (See http://www.widernet.org/TechTraining/CD/index.htm.)   We’ve distributed another 100 copies of this CD to universities during consulting and training activities.

We secured donations of tens of thousands of dollars worth of high-end server software and training materials for trainees.

We held training for 38 university technical staff in Abuja in November of 2001, (see http://www.widernet.org/TechTraining/TechTraining01/index.htm ) which went very well.  At the end of the training the participants were given computer-based training CDs to assist them in attaining two industry standard certifications.  Since then, 16 have returned to the NUC to pass their A+ certification and are now working on their Network+ certification.

We have done on-site consulting at the University of Ibadan, University of Jos, Bayero University, Kano, Ahmadu Bello University, and the University of Port Harcourt.  We have provided technical consulting to dozens of universities via email and the Web.  (For examples, see http://www.widernet.org/DecisionMakers/misc/backuppower.htm and http://www.widernet.org/satellite.)

We organized and hosted the second annual National Conference on ICT in Higher Education (see http://www.widernet.org/february2002/jos02/jos) with 54 participants from six universities, several government agencies, and a number of private sector groups (see list of attendees at and evaluations).

5. Project Planned Activities for next six months.

WiderNet Project Director Cliff Missen will lead the Second Annual Technician Training at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria.  This three day computer training will be an intensive workshop focusing on the creation of campus networks for entry-level ICT staff members of Nigerian federal universities. The workshop will cover a variety of topics ranging from computer assembly to satellite links to the internet.  Participants will hear lectures on computer and network topics, watch demonstrations on computer assembly and basic networking, and then get hands-on experience building computers, preparing network wires, and building local area networks. 

Each of the participants will receive a copy of the Technician Training 2002 Project CD.  This CD-Rom is a compilation of over ten lectures and PowerPoint presentations by Director Missen, hundreds of articles on a variety of IT subjects, numerous software program downloads, tutorials, and a vast section of satellite internet services.

Cliff Missen and Michael Schmitz will hold a Wireless Networking Workshop at the University of Ibadan.  This workshop features presentations of wireless networking, local area networking, and wide area (building-to-building) networking.  Hands-on demonstrations of wireless technology using new equipment from 3Com Corporation will be scheduled during the workshop.

Cliff Missen and Michael Schmitz will hold Web Design Training at the University of Ibadan.  This training includes lectures and demonstrations of practical and efficient Web site design and maintenance.  The training will introduce basic Web page design skills and demonstrate the integration of graphics, tables, and databases.  Attention will be paid to design techniques that create fast-loading and easily readable pages.

Over the next six months, we will be coaching the technician trainees via email and the NUC will be certifying them whenever they are ready. 

Another shipment of donated computers, networking equipment, software, and journals is planned within the next six months.  As soon as we receive 300 more computers, we will ship these items to the Universities of Jos and Ibadan.
 

6. Significant goals or objectives amendments since the original project proposal.

We will essentially complete the second cycle of the project by September, 2003 with a couple minor changes.

Cliff Missen will be making two more trips to Nigeria during the next year and will be accompanied in the fall by trainer Michael Schmitz. We have one more training to do in the fall and then a year's worth of follow-up and coaching followed by a conference and evaluation period.

Given the difficulty of finding trainers who will travel to Nigeria, we have hired more students to prepare resources and to coach our Nigerian counterparts.
 

7. According to your records, how much money has the partnership drawn down on ALO funds so far? 
$67,205.14

Last updated Thursday, April 01, 2004 by Cliff Missen