ICTs are catalysts for economic growth of nations

DEVELOPMEMNT of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has been hailed as an important tool that accelerate development in developing countries. Stiff competition and technological advances have led to a fall in the cost of ICT products and services thus it has provided and contributed immensely to the global economy. According to the Managing Director of Tanzania Defense of Human Rights and Citizen’s Rights protections, loosening of trade restrictions has encouraged the growth and expansion of ICT and hence revolutionized the sector. Investments ion ICT have grown substantially in both developed and developing countries has been high since 2005/2009 and users have increased its operations day by day. There is a general agreement that increased ICT production and usage has contributed a lot to the economic growth of the country. ICT comprises the manufacturing and service industries that capture, transmit and display date and information electronically. Manufactured products include office, accounting and computing machinery, insulated wires and cable electronic valves and tubes and other electronic components. Service industries as part of ICT includes wholesaling of computers, computer peripherals equipment and software. Whole selling of electronic and Tele-communication parts and equipment renting of office machinery and equipment. According to an IT specialist, increased production of ICTs has contributed to higher output, created employment opportunities. According to him, ICT has the potential of making the government and other organizations more efficient, more inclined to share information, more transparent and accountable. The government can also use ICT in isolated rural communities with urban centers as well as offer the poor economic opportunities. Although the developing countries currently lag behind developed countries in adopting ICT, low opportunity costs for switching from old to new ICT technology may enable developing countries to learn from the experiences of the advanced economies and facilitate the adoption of modern technologies. The internet for instance cannot work without the application of computer and other data communication access. There are possible network effects in the application of ICT at least in some areas which may create an effective barrier to the spread of ICT.

A recently constructed National University of Dodoma in Tanzania. ICT training at the University main campus is part of the course programe to be conducted at the University

The requirement of technology adoption in terms of human capital also vary across the technology which allows relatively easy leap frogging as effective use of certain software application require higher levels of human capital. Professor Hamza Iddi Pazi of the University of Dodoma says that, ICT revolution is skilled biased and increases demand for the high skilled workers as compared to relatively to low skilled workers creating a significant disparity in wages as is the case in Tanzania. For instance in Northern Ghana, local trained in computer skills and management can earn up to US$ 6,000 per year while the average gross national product (GNP) per capita in Ghana is US$ 390. In developing countries, the majority of ICT users are from the most educated sectors of the population. This means that they reap the benefit and economic opportunity while the uneducated are excluded. For example in Tanzania, a high percentage of internet users have computer knowledge and skills. However, the skills required for using ICT are gradually diminishing as more people become familiar with them. For example, in science sectors using computers often involves simple and repetitive tasks that are easy to learn