An enhanced Information and Communication Technology (ICT) center to serve as Community Information Centre (CIC) under the e-governance project at Yendi in the Northern region has become a white elephant.
The CIC project constructed to ensure every community get access to ICT facilities across the country to enable the less privileged ones also access the centers to learn and improve on their technological skills especially in Yendi Municipality has been abandoned for the past years.
The use of ICT has become part of human development in accessing information at all times and such were provided to enable citizens without any knowledge in ICT to acquire it. As a result, infrastructure was constructed across the country under the e-government programme to bring the service to the door steps of every Ghanaian living everywhere to bridge the Knowledge gap.
The Yendi CIC has been helping students and the people within and outside Yendi but the aim for which it was established is not currently being achieved due to broken down computers which has compelled management to shut down the centre.
A visit to the center saw the place invaded by weeds and other reptiles while some traders have also converted the place into drying of their food stuffs meanwhile the broken down computers and other office equipment were still at the facility. More so, the office was also full of cobwebs and dusts while some computers were not on their shelves.
Information also gathered indicated that almost all the schools in the municipality rely on the sole computer center for the practical based programme.
Some residence expressed worry about the state of the centre and inability to sustain the purpose for which it was established and therefore called for immediate steps to revamp the serve the residents of Yendi and its surroundings but some members of the Assembly contacted declined to comment on the centre.
Speaking to the B&FT, Razak Mohammed a teacher noted the absence of the centre has posed a challenged to the teachers and the students of Yendi.
According to him, most of the schools in Yendi do not have computer laboratories and therefore rely on the centre to help in the teaching of ICT, adding that the centre for the past three years has been closed down without any reason and since its closure it has made it difficult for both teacher and the school children to access the place to learn while at home.
The centre if not checked and renovated could affect the state and especially the future generation with government efforts to equip children with ICT skills to be able to compete favorably in an ever growing technologically competitive world.
B&FT
