Developing modern information systems and services: Africa's challenges for the future

'Information is a resource', 'information is a commodity', 'information is the key to national development' … we hear this over and over again in meetings, conferences and workshops concerned with the development of modern information systems and services in Africa. But where do the information systems and services in African countries stand now; where can they reach in the next 5–10 years; and what would be the challenging factors? Big questions indeed; let us try to answer them. Points raised in the following paragraphs are particularly concerned with the eastern and southern African countries, but they will apply equally to most of the other African countries in the sub-Saharan region, and to Third World countries in general.