Itinerary / ChronologyUSIA /GTC Assessment of
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Monday October 11, 1999
8pm -- Arrive Lagos Airport.
Picked up by USIS driver. Overnight at American Embassy Guest House.
Tuesday October 12, 1999
8:30am -- Meet at USIA office with various staff.
People were frantically preparing for visit by Secretary of State. Few persons "on seat." I'm greeted by librarian Steve Perry and assigned to CAO Shirley Lisenby. Shirley is new to the job and has not worked with Nigerian universities before, but is game for the adventure. It is assumed that I have a meeting scheduled with UNILAG folks, but we won't know until we get there. The group's computer support person, Elizabeth Akinde, agrees to help by calling around to ISPs to see if she can set up afternoon appointments.
10am -- Meeting at University of Lagos.
Accompanied by Shirley Lisenby, Cultural Affairs Officer of USIA. Met with Vice Chancellor (Prof. Jelili Adebisi Omotola), DVC Academic (Prof. Sulaiman A. Adekola), the Head of the Law School, the registrar, and Director of NUNet/Computer Centre.
3:00 pm -- Talk with Thomas Hobgood, Country Director, USAID
We spoke via phone while I was in the Lagos office of USIS.
The Nigerian office of USAID, which had been running at minimal capacity during the previous military regime, is still in the process of gearing up its operations and deciding its directions.
The long-term project emphasis is expected to be on democracy building, economic growth, woman and child welfare, and education. (However, the latter focus is on primary education.) No timeline has been developed to date; planning is expected to start this year.
The Leland Initiative has not designated Nigeria to be a target country. It would take almost a year's worth of planning and preparation to do so.
Current efforts are being focused on building up civil society and assisting the executive office.
Mr. Hobgood expressed interest in a copy of this report, but declined to meet.
3:30 - 6:30 pm -- Meet with Lagos ISPs
Lagos Internet Service Provider Report
8 pm -- Meet with Jim Callahan at Embassy Guest House
Wednesday October 13, 1999
6.30 - 7:30 am -- Fly from Lagos to Abuja
10.00 am -- USIS in Abuja
Met with staff, got updated on projects, and did a little research at the USIS library.
Noon -- Toured National Legislature
2:00 pm -- Nigerian Universities Commission
Thursday October 14, 1999
10:00 am -- Meeting at Nigerian Communications Commission
Noon -- Meet with NUC Executive Secretary
Professor Munzali Jibril and I have met several times to discuss computer and network matters, so we fell quite easily into our discussions. He particularly interested in seeing some significant progress made soon on the issue of connecting universities to the Internet.
We covered some of the basic ideas outlined in the Satellite Project Proposal and he reiterated his commitment to making Internet connectivity a reality in the following year.
I gathered from his comments that he is anxious to see something occur soon. We discussed a potential linkage project between the University of Iowa and several NUC institutions.
Professor Jibril recounted the difficulty in getting member institutions to cooperate --pointing out that several have yet to spend funds allocated to them in previous years for information technology -- and stressed that future undertakings must be well planned and successful.
2:30 pm -- Meetings/Inspections at the National Mathematical Centre, Abuja
Friday October 15, 1999
All Day -- Meetings at NUC Abuja
Spent the day crunching numbers and getting broader staff input on the NUC satellite proposal. Toured building and consulted on network expansion.
Saturday October 16, 1999
7 - 10 am -- Road Travel from Abuja to Jos
11am - 7pm -- Meetings at the University of Jos
Sunday October 17, 1999
2 pm -- Road Travel Jos to Kano
Monday October 18, 1999
10 am -- Meetings/Inspections at Bayero University, Kano
2 pm -- Road Travel Kano to Zaria
4pm -- Arrive Zaria. Meet with Prof. Taylor
7pm -- Dinner with Prof. Taylor and others
Tuesday October 19, 1999
8am Meet with Prof. George Kwanashe (DVC academic) and Prof. Taylor.
10.00 a.m.Meetings/Inspections at ABU Zaria
2.00 p.m. Road Travel Zaria to Abuja
6.30 p.m.Check-in at NICON Hilton, Abuja
Wednesday October 20, 1999
9 am -- Debrief with NUC staff. Finalize details of satellite plan. Discuss university concerns with Dr. Ibrahim.
11 am -- Meetings/Inspections at University of Abuja
2 pm -- Leave for Abuja Airport, Depart for Lagos
Met and transported by NUC Liason Office staff
5 pm -- Revisit UNILAG
10 pm -- Depart Lagos Airport for USA
Escorted through airport and customs by NUC Liason Office staff
Miscellaneous Documents
NUC's Satellite Planning Slideshow
Universities as ISPs