E-book Overview: A look at Everest Amaefule’s Engineering and Improvement

Everest Amaefule’s clean and insightful e book with nine chapters would give numerous conversing points in several years to arrive.

By putting the do the job together, Mr Amaefule has come to be a member of a choose group of “beat reporters” in journalism who developed into thinkers acquiring drawn from their activities, publicity and training to add more worth in their field to the culture.

If the standing of someone who endorses a ebook confers great importance on this kind of an intellectual effort, then Technology and Growth – An African Standpoint is a best draw since Umar Dambatta, the government vice chairman and main government officer of the Nigerian Communications Fee(NCC) is no signify male.

As if that was not more than enough, the preface is authored by one particular of the most partaking scholars of mass communication, Charles Okigbo, a professor and perfectly-revered mentor to some of us – now an emeritus professor of mass interaction and strategic communication, North Dakota Condition University, United States of The united states.

Mr Okigbo was 1 of our favourite academics again then while he taught at the University of Nigeria, exactly where Mr Amaefule gained his initially diploma in mass interaction.

The foreword by Joseph Adeyeye, executive director, digital functions and publications, Punch Newspapers, is not just an enduring validation of diligence at do the job but serves as a in depth blurb that introduces the publication.

Plot

The reserve opens with the triple earth-shaking functions of 1989: the release of Nelson Mandela from prison right after just about a few many years, the development of the environment vast web (www) and the drop of the Berlin Wall. What an incredible yr, towards the history of a divisive entire world purchase finest regarded for lower-throat competitors and distrust.

Those people historic incidents set the stage for a potential model new entire world signposted by globalisation, openness, flexibility and efforts at integration of humankind into an emergent world neighborhood with a reduced stage of strive in between the significant superpowers in the entire world at that time.

The book evaluations past fears about media imperialism and the clamour for stability, mainly by Africa countries highlighting that the creation of the internet and the world wide website has, somewhat than bridge the hole, widened it in favour of vendors of information and individuals who have grow to be ‘net importers of information’.

This reveals that the previous world buy is nonetheless the commonplace circumstance. The gap even appears to be broader.

In the next chapter, the author focuses on the collaboration concerning the navy and academia in bringing about innovations with the aid of political management. Are there potential customers for these types of a symbiotic romance? Is it feasible to have a meeting of vision and intellect between political leaders, bureaucrats, business enterprise folks and academia to fast monitor makes an attempt to leapfrog into a larger amount of improvement?

Lessons

The author underscores how the rivalry between the two superpowers at that time impressed exploration and growth initiatives.

Mr Amaefule would like African nations to attract lessons from America’s approach to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR) relations “while the United States had to research for counter technologies that could dwarf the threats of the USSR”, Africa is continue to enmeshed in the woods having difficulties towards very poor management of assets in distinctive sectors.

The succeeding component sets the tone for Africa to identify abilities and competence, faucet and harness high-quality human sources, recruit personnel and set them in the proper spots. A situation review of the United States and South Korea influences his advocacy for Africa to seek homegrown answers somewhat than ‘deceive ourselves that others can do it for us’.

The phase that follows lends credence to the legend that “necessity is the mother of invention” though examining the generate which led to the innovation of the entire world broad world-wide-web as distinctive from the web. He demonstrates on their origins, their evolution, their strengths and weaknesses in comparison to the common media. This aspect exposes the author’s whole grasp of the numerous difficulties in his subject of practice.

One more division plainly brings out the key qualities of the web, its uses, immense likely for fantastic noting that it ‘is the most democratic contemporary medium offered for advancement.

Even so, daily life is not that simple mainly because while the internet is a drive for excellent, the flip facet is unappealing: it promotes criminal offense, eavesdropping, invasion of privateness. Access is not as common as assumed mainly because of poverty, bad ability provide, significant charge, fake news and tales. The world-wide-web serves as both equally the swiftest, most robust usually means of mobilization for very good and terrible causes. It has come to be a helpful device for both equally patriots and terrorists. The exploits and successes recorded by Boko Haram, ISWAP, bandits, kidnappers and other insurgents place to the downsides of these technological improvements.

The discourse on historic epochs in improvement examines numerous themes in growth philosophy via the many years and sets an agenda for a discussion on this sort of theories as modernisation, Marxism, dependency, article-improvement. The author argues that both equally the created nations and producing nations of the world located in the Northern hemisphere and in the opposite route require development ‘from the industrialised The us to the remotest village in Nigeria’.

In chapter 7, ‘Participation as a new salt in development literature’, the creator highlights the imperative for normal participation in growth initiatives. An appealing point of view is reviewed beneath ‘critical issues in rural growth which the writer sees as’ the totality of the strategies aimed at bettering the regular of living or welfare of a rural population’ albeit in Nigeria, ‘most initiatives at rural development experienced concentrated on the growth of agriculture.

In the closing segment, Mr Amaefule highlights the significance of a shift to participatory communication which facilitates exchanges concerning different stakeholders to handle a common trouble.

He examines some designs of communication like Shannon and Weaver’s Sender – Media – Channel – Receiver (SMCR), Diffusion of Innovation, Transmission product, Social Advertising solution of Kotler, Leisure-Education and Media Advocacy styles as helpful in endorsing enhancement interaction.

All in all, the 140-web site ebook is loaded. It is a very well-articulated contribution to the literature on technological innovation and improvement.

Mr Amaefule is a relentless go-getter. Whilst he identified himself in a sector that was at infancy in Nigeria, he has developed into it and mastered the difficulties on that ‘beat’. His contributions in the web pages of the e book expose him as a eager observer of his natural environment.

This new e book will connect generations of men and women who have been unaware of the deep ideological divide promoted by the U.S. on just one hand, the USSR and their allies to individuals who lived in that era.

I commend the author’s attempts and propose this e-book to administrators, scholars and standard readers for the reason that it would aid them to condition and sharpen their ideas on the topic make any difference. It is a useful addition to the literature on the World Broad Net, The World wide web and Progress Interaction as it will present readers with a deeper and a lot more being familiar with of the difficulties.

Dr Udeme Nana, a mass interaction scholar and writer, is the Founder, Uyo Reserve Club.