Science & Technology

I have a uniquely in-depth knowledge of the Liberia Petroleum Refinery Company’s (LPRC) facilities; I once worked there in a technical capacity. So, when I learned recently that a team of Government (GOL) officials had visited the entity’s (LPRC) Product Storage Terminal (PST) site on a “fact-finding” visit, I was very elated. I was also relieved to learn that the GOL promised full support to the leadership of the “Refinery”. LPRC, like most of the autonomous agencies in Liberia, needs to be revamped; I cannot overemphasize this! And now that it has a young, skilled and progressive leadership team (some of whom I have worked with), I am confident that with the much needed support, the country’s only refinery will become exactly what it is supposed to be, a REFINERY; not merely a storage facility as it has been for several years.

In Africa, the Information Superhighway will shift power from “Rulers” to the people. But who will control the people?

Power, according Machiavelli, is the ability to get others to do what you want, and to prevent them from doing what you don’t want them to do. In Africa, power in the hands of rulers not leaders, has led to political instability, coup d’états and wars – so the last 50 years have taught us.

However, as we gravitate toward a new decade eclipsed by a totally new culture, power which had been “usurped” and misused by “rulers or dictators” will no more remain in their hands; it will shift toward the people. The Western democracy which we so profoundly emulate will finally work in Africa – not because rulers will experience an epiphany and opt to change their style of rule, but because “the people” will have greater access to technology. Technology will give them information; information will give them knowledge; and knowledge my friends, is power!

Technology, we’ve been told, is the artificial enhancement of human power. We expect it to make us smarter and better people. Its impact on our society has been good and bad; creative and destructive. Coupled with the Internet, technology has transformed our society into what is today referred to as the Digital Village.

In early 2000, Liberia missed an opportunity to gain access to broadband connectivity via the undersea fiber cable, SAT3/WASC (South Atlantic Telecommunications cable no.3/West Africa Submarine Cable). This was due in part to the civil war and the prohibitive costs entailed in the project. The dreadfully slow access to the Internet in Liberia today is a direct result of that missed opportunity. Fortunately, Liberia has been presented with another opportunity; the Africa Coast to Europe undersea fiber cable system (ACE System). Will we be prepared to take advantage of it?

Text messaging has become a popular means of communication. It has had an overwhelming impact on economic development in the global community, but most importantly, in bridging the proverbial digital divide. It is cheap, fast, and convenient. Yet, it has made us lazy to write, destroyed our command of the English language (or whatever language we use to communicate), and continues to cause post offices globally to lose revenue. Text messaging has become the sanctuary from which individuals who detest face-to-face interaction can communicate; and amazingly, the new tool for starting, maintaining, and ending relationships. Above all else, it can be used against you in a court of law.