The Director of the Computer Services and Information Technology (COMSIT), University of Ilorin, Prof. Musa Isyaku Ahmed, has praised the management of the University for its proactive investment of "enormous resources" in Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

Prof. Ahmed, who gave the kudos in Accra, Ghana, last Tuesday (March 22, 2016) while delivering a keynote address at the Sixth International Science, Technology, Education, Arts, Management and Social Sciences (iSTEAMS) Multidisciplinary Cross-border Conference held at the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA), said that this deliberate move to integrate hi-tech into the teaching and learning environment has "paid off handsomely".

The Conference was aimed at fostering a good merger between technology and education, and inter-tertiary collaborations in areas of research. It would also generate intellectual and human capital development and cross-border interaction among academic institutions. In his paper, entitled "Addressing Higher Education Processes Challenges through ICT Innovations: The University of Ilorin Experience", the Professor of Veterinary Medicine with hi-tech ICT skills said the adoption of ICT as one of its core values is one of the factors responsible for making Unilorin the most sought-for by admission seekers in the country.

Prof. Ahmed also pointed out that Unilorin's heavy investment in ICT has also been responsible for the Webometric ranking of the University among the best three universities in the country in 2015. According to the erudite Professor, "Contemporary universities in Nigeria are digital technology driven (and) this digital dependence has impacted on teaching and learning at all levels of tertiary education, thereby challenging the conventional teaching and learning commonly in use".

He told the excited Conference participants that the University of Ilorin had anticipated the ICT modernity, a situation that accounted for its heavy investment in hi-tech. Prof. Ahmed, therefore, called on tertiary education institutions in West Africa "to anticipate the change mantra in order not to have it forced upon us". The Keynote Speaker praised the organisers of the iSTEAMS Conference, which he said, would afford participants the opportunity to "share experience on how to transfer, integrate and adopt the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in our institutions of learning".

Prof. Ahmed said, "There is no better time to bring together stakeholders on ICT to interact and share their experiences on the way forward in addressing the issues in tertiary education using ICT tools." Pointing out that "the time to imbibe the ICT culture is now, with the growing population and concurrent dwindling resources", the ICT expert said, "Most countries in West Africa are now promoting e-governance, e-education, e-medicine, e-Visa, etc to ease up the stress of governance and efficiently reach out to the people."

On the impact of ICT on education in Nigeria, Prof. Ahmed expressed happiness that it had revolutionised the tertiary education sector of education in the country, as, according to him, "it has encouraged the development of contextualised institutional e-learning platforms and other generic ICT-based teaching and learning programmes". According to him, digital technologies have brought about changes in teachers' and students' relationships "as they now learn from each other". He said, "Teachers' roles have shifted from being providers of information to facilitators and guides to learning."

Earlier in his welcome address, the Co-Convener of the Conference, Prof. Olumide Babatope Longe, said this was the first time the iSTEAMS Conference would be held outside Nigeria since its inception in 2013. Prof. Longe said that the organisers decided to bring the conference to Ghana this year in order to give the Ghanaian contingents who have always attended previous editions in other countries a sense of belonging. The Co-Convener, however, expressed delight that since it began in 2013, the iSTEAMS Conference has continued to wax strong. He said, "From the maiden edition at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, in May 2013, the Conference continued to grow in leaps and bounds with attendant global impact."

Prof. Longe thanked the management, staff and students of the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA), for the wonderful hospitality they accorded the Conference participants, saying, "We look forward to more productive relationship with UPSA and other institutions across the globe in the future."

In his goodwill message, the Vice-Chancellor of UPSA, Prof. Joshua Alabi, congratulated the organisers of the Conference, saying that they made a right choice to hold it at the University of Professional Studies, Accra. Prof. Alabi, who was represented by the Pro-Vice Chancellor of UPSA, Prof. Abednego Amartey, said that the Conference had "come at a very opportune time in a dispensation where research and academic dynamics are becoming more collaborative, inter-tertiary and cross-border at increasing geometrical rates." The next edition of the Conference will hold at the University of Ilorin in September this year.

Among the dignitaries at the Conference opening ceremony were the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, Prof. AbdulGaniyu Ambali (OON); the Vice-Chancellor of Caleb University, Imota, Lagos, Prof. Ayandiji Aina; and the President of Accra Institute of Technology, Prof. Clement Dzidonu; Also in attendance were Prof. Edward Santiago-Blas of Colorado State University, USA; Prof. Kousati Edwards of Tufts University, Massachusetts, USA; Dr. Deborah Ebem of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka; Prof. Hilda Vember of the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, South Africa; Dr. Irene N. of the University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ho Volta Region, Ghana; and the Deputy Director, Ilorin Business School, University of Ilorin, Dr. Rasheed Jimoh.