Akwa Ibom state builds an e-library without a website. Yet the governor claims books can be downloaded from remote locations.
On Monday, the governor of Akwa-Ibom state, Godswill Akpabio, led President Goodluck Jonathan to an elaborate ceremony to inaugurate the state's multimillion naira "e-library".
The commissioning ceremony was organised to mark the end of construction work on the project and signal the beginning of use of the facility.
The president did the usual tape cutting, briefly inspected the facility and gave the governor a pat on the back before hopping on his plane back to Abuja.
But perhaps unknown to the president, the edifice he commissioned with much pomp and ceremony does not have a website as expected of any electronic library of this age.
A web platform, experts say, is a core, indispensable part of electronic libraries across the world.
“I was overjoyed after learning about the commissioning of an e-library in Nigeria,” Jackson Ikane, a university student, said. “But my joy was short lived. The library is not what I thought, It doesn’t have a website!”
Electronic libraries all over the world are designated as such for having a physical site, and most importantly, for having collections, stored in digital formats, that could be accessed remotely via the Internet.
The Akwa-Ibom “e-library” was inaugurated despite having only the physical site.
Aniekan Umana, the state’s information commissioner told PREMIUM TIMES the newly inaugurated library had one, but he could not provide us with link to the site.
“Google it,” he said on the telephone on Tuesday.
Pressed further on the matter, he asked for time to source it from the library. Twenty-four hours later, Mr Umana failed to provide us with a url to the state’s “e-library” website.
Media commissioning
State governors in Nigeria often times overemphasise commissioning ceremony that state projects attract - for the media mileage - ahead of building high quality projects for their electorates.
In most cases, journalists are flown or bussed from afar to complement expensive live coverages of the commissioning ceremonies. Some inauguration ceremonies are usually conducted even when projects are still far from completion.
In some cases, governors spend more money organizing flamboyant commissioning ceremonies than they are willing to spend on the commissioned projects.
During the commissioning ceremony on Monday, Mr. Akpabio, described the three-storey library complex as the first of its kind in West Africa.
He said the library has digital collections of 16.5 million e-documents “which can be accessed by users simultaneously.”
He added that the library also has two million electronic books “that can be downloaded” in addition to 14.5 million electronic research e-journals.
The governor added that the library has a conference centre with language translators, and urged the president to bring international conferences to the state, to be hosted in the “e-library.”
Mr. Umana could not explain how books could be downloaded from afar (as claimed by the governor) without a functional web platform.
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Posted: at 27-06-2012 10:46 PM (12 years ago) | Addicted Hero
black_samurai at 28-06-2012 01:00 AM (12 years ago) (m)
I'll explain a little of this. Building a physical library that offers e-library services is an interesting step. The only problem here is how our people present their cases. He probably was trying to explain the concept of e-library and wasn't trying to say the services has begun. Its a step by step thing. The library is open and a little a time, they'll be able to put up the e-library services too. What he explained was the bird's eye view of the project.
MY ONLY PROBLEM IS WHY SUCH A WASTEFUL CEREMONY FOR A LIBRARY?
Speach is silver, silence is Gold!
Posted: at 28-06-2012 01:00 AM (12 years ago) | Upcoming
mr poster you are a big DOG.... a library that has just been commissioned of which you and i know that sooner or later, the internet will be launched.. why can't this poster of a dog that calls himself nametalkam learn and become reasonable for once!!!!!!!!!!!!!! appreciate good things for once! fool! who knows where you copied this rubbish news for people to read, abi na from one of his critics who can never appreciate good things like you!
Posted: at 28-06-2012 02:19 AM (12 years ago) | Newbie
Why do people always jump to conclusion without facts? It is quite a pity that no matter what the Governor has done people will never be satisfy. I do not belong to the ruling class but it gladdens my heart that for the first time in the History of Akwa Ibom State, There is a Governor Who steals yet does meaningful project that will benefit the General populace.
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