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Copyright 1998 Agence France Presse
Agence France Presse
August 11, 1998 Nigeria-millennium 10:59 GMT
SECTION: International news
LENGTH: 190 words
HEADLINE: Nigeria needs 10 bn dollars to tackle millennium bug, says official
DATELINE: LAGOS, Aug 11
BODY:
Tackling the millennium bug will cost Nigeria's industry and government about 10 billion dollars, a top Nigerian civil servant said, cited in reports here Tuesday.
Olu Bajowa, permanent secretary in Nigeria's ministry of science and technology told a conference here that will be the cost of replacing or upgrading thousands of computers used across industry and government here.
The "solution to the problem will be less expensive if it comes through the correction of existing hardware and software rather than through a complete replacement of existing units," he said, cited by the independent Daily Champion.
The so-called millenium bug, faced by computer operators world wide, is expected to be triggered at midnight on December 31, 1999, when dating-systems are expected to be thrown out of sync. Millions of dollars of research has gone into tackling the problem in most western countries but so far relatively little work has been done in the developing world.
Critical computer systems in aircraft, hospitals, banks and businesses across the world could collapse, unless action is taken, experts fear.