Africa 's Survival Plan for Meeting the Challenges of Information Technology in the 1990s and Beyond

We review the impact of IT on the information arena and its implications for Africa. We argue that Africa has to adapt IT if she is to continue sourcing her technology and information resources from the technologically advanced countries. We discuss some of the barriers impeding the promotion of IT on the continent such as poor IT infrastructures including lack of expertise, poor electricity supplies, lack of foreign exchange, illiteracy, poor telecommunications, a harsh climate and lack of national information policies. We propose a twelve-point policy framework plan on how Africa can face the challenges of IT in the 1990s and beyond including education, information policy, legal instruments, industrial policy, duty and tax regimes on IT, research, labour, telecommunications infrastructure and the establishment of national IT councils. We also propose how Africa's IT programme can be financed