INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES (ICTs) IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY\ ICT is a generic term covering computers, broadcasting, telecommunications,

data networks and smart components which are being increasingly applied in diverse uses. It can be defined as the totality of the electronic means to collect, store, process and present information to the endusers in support of their activities, and consists of computer systems, data communication systems, knowledge systems, office systems and consumer electronics An international report disclosed that ICTs offered enormous opportunities that enhanced the competitiveness of industry; increased the returns from trade, attracted foreign direct investment and other forms of external capital; increased the integration of small and medium-sized enterprises into the value chain; and enhance the service provided by the financial sector. While ICTs bring about major development schemes, it has been observed it caused loss of control over a country's economic destiny and, has led to forced alignment of domestic economic policies with international ones, with investment decisions by both domestic and foreign terms being taken in line with considerations of global competitiveness which may not always be consistent with national interests. Some claimed that the advancement in the 21st century is only that of labour utilization and not real innovation that has brought the principal boost to the world economy. With this, the Gordon Moore extrapolation of a constant exponential growth in ICT must have takens an over-sight for the reality. Despite technological advancement in nuclear fusion, cleaner coal, carbon capture and storage, the capture of CO2 from the air, bio-fuels, batteries and all-electric cars, wind turbines, photovoltaic panels, geothermal energy, hydrology, desalination, early warning systems for bad weather, synthetic biology, stem cell research, neurobiology and much else besides, some still claim that there is little to compare with the sweeping grandeur of earlier revolutions of the 20th century, amidst its holocaust and gulags. The post-war legacy of innovation has become a popular concept in the period following the world war when the wonders of the atomic bombs and nuclear
Authur: UWAYA U.S, medical student at the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria; email:samsamlllex@yahoo.com

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reactors, transistors and integrated circuits, microwave ovens, manned space flight, lasers, PC, the World Wide Web, the Internet search, mass-produced penicillin, and the Green Revolution with high-yield, disease-resistant wheat, were hallmarks. The 21st century has been described as the era of ICT-offer-and-utilization as most of the new things seen follow an improvement on the post-war innovations; and how much supportive this is to developing countries is an open debate. The global information communication has been called "the world's largest machine," and it is very complex and difficult to visualize and understand in the entire framework of hardware and software subsystems., of which only countries and governments with technology, resources, information, and access to good international market relations are more likely to benefit.

Authur:

UWAYA U.S, medical student at the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria; email:samsamlllex@yahoo.com

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