INTRODUCTION

Following the submission from the ICT Committee and the directive by council at its 55th meeting held on Friday, 5th October 2010, the Directorate of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Benue State University Makurdi was established in October 2010 and was mandated to provide IT standards, guidelines and policy, strategic plan, and development in the University.

Our Vision
The ICT Vision is, “To build an effective and efficient ICT Centre that would be a hub to develop and meet the ICT needs of the University, Benue State, Nigeria, and Globally”.

About Us
The Directorate of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), is charged with the responsibilities of deploying ICT infrastructure and services for administration, teaching, research, and learning to the University Community.
Below are the foremost functions and schedules of this directorate:
Design, Provision and sustainability of Internet access to the University Community.
Design, Provision and Maintenance of University Area Network.
Help desk support services to the University community on ICT applications and facilities.
Ensuring that the University community has a standard and robust Website through a constant maintenance and updating of the site.
Maintenance of both application software and repairs of computers for the University Community.
Research support through Statistical Analysis of postgraduate and undergraduate research activities in the University Community.
Providing ICT capacity building for staff and students of the University through various training programmes.
Augmenting the revenue generation for the University through the provision of ICT services within and for the public outside the University Community.
Assist departments and units in providing secure, reliable, University wide IT operations;
To Promote Innovative Use of Information Technology that Adds Value to the academic environment

The Benue State University mission to provide a world-class environment for learning, research and community service in this information driven age where intellectual capital is of the utmost value, can only be actualized with a well articulated, well managed information technology strategy. To achieve this, the Directorate of Communication and Information Technology (ICT) is vital to ensure that services delivered are of the highest technical content and of the best quality.
There are a number of on-going ICT projects and future initiatives in the University Community which require an ICT workforce for its sustainability. This workforce is the BSU ICT directorate.

ON-GOING ICT PROJECTS
Some of the on-going ICT projects include: University Management Information System in all the faculties and units of the university, increasing our Bandwidth, design and implementation of Fiber Optics on the University Campus Network, train all registry staff for computer proficiency, Library Services Automation etc.

DEPARTMENTS
Benue State University, Directorate of ICT has the following departments: Network and Internet Services Unit, Management Information Systems Unit (MIS), Systems Development/Web & On-Line Applications Unit, Training and Development Unit, Maintenance & Support Services Unit.

Network and Internet Services Unit
The responsibilities of NISU include:
The design, development, testing, implementation, troubleshooting and maintenance of University networks
To expand the network and ensure that all relevant offices in the University are networked and connected to the internet for academic and administrative purposes
Providing operational support and management of networks
To undertake procurement, installation and monitor basic maintenance of network equipment
Providing training and support for the internet/promoting awareness campaign;
To load and update software packages required
To assist in personnel development and training
Monitoring and reporting progress and network status to Director.

Management Information System (MIS)
The responsibilities of MIS include:
To provide top management with relevant statistics and information on critical success factors in the management of the University by maintaining databases
Database and portal development, availability, continuity, and provide security of data and information technology services in the unit and the university
Support management decision making through deployment of Decision Support Systems (DSS) software
The integration of all student, academic, registry and management records into the ICT automation plan and policy
To implement data protection regulations and access controls in-line with established laws, regulations, and policies
Producing and presenting reports in clear, precise, and understandable formats
Ensuring security of data and ensure that backup systems operate effectively
To introduce statistical processes, procedures, methodologies and systems relevant to the work area, including preparation of appropriate documentation
Carry out statistical analysis in diverse areas relevant to the work area.
Understanding the statistical requirements of internal and external clients and where applicable, liaise, communicate and provide assistance
The recommendation and acquisition of relevant statistical packages
Monitoring and reporting progress and database status to Director.

Systems Development/Web & On-Line Applications Unit
The responsibilities of Software Development include:
Full lifecycle application development
Designing, coding and debugging applications in various software languages.
Software analysis, code analysis, requirements analysis, software review, identification of code metrics, system risk analysis, software reliability analysis
Object-Oriented Design and Analysis (OOA and OOD)
Software modeling and simulation
Front end graphical user interface design
Software testing and quality assurance
Performance tuning, improvement, balancing, usability, automation.
Support, maintain and document software functionality
Integrate software with existing systems
Evaluate and identify new technologies for implementation
Project Planning and Project Management
Implement localization or globalization of software
Monitoring and reporting progress and systems status to Director.

Training and Development Unit
The responsibilities of Training Department include
Identifying training and development needs within the University through job analysis, appraisal schemes and regular consultation with Deans, Directors, Heads of Department, unit heads and Registry Department
Providing long-term improvement of employees' skills so that they can fulfil their potentials within the University
Organizing ICT trainings & Development for both staff and students
The provision of leading-edge professional ICT training programmes (e.g. CISCO certificated programmes) either alone or with other relevant unit in the Directorate or with other internationally approved/reputed organizations outside the University.
It provides IT consultancy services for clientele outside the university community in all its areas of capabilities.
It also identifies and organizes required training needs of university staff for purposes of developing IT competence. With the decentralization of IT services across the campus, it is envisaged that ICT units will exist in different locations in units, departments and faculties.
This unit would be responsible for supporting easy and effective use of these resources at the various locations.

Maintenance & Support Services Unit
The responsibilities of this unit include:
To set up university help desk operations according to industry best practices
Establish methodologies to immediately handle system/application problems reported by both staff and students
Providing operational support and maintenance of network equipment, computing devices and supervise the provision of Telephone services and networks.
Ensuring the stability of both software and hardware performance in computer systems and accessories by handling various faults in time and maintaining the stable operation of the systems.
Maintaining ICT infrastructure/system uptime, ensuring increased network utilization and optimal network performance as a matter of priority. Additionally also to ensure that any degradation of service or fault must be resolved as efficiently as possible so as to have minimal impact on users.
Finding and resolving the problems existing in networks equipment and document network trends that are tracked for analyses.
Be responsible for the administration, specification and aggregation of the computing needs of university departments/units and maintaining documentation on same (i.e. computer laboratories/e-learning centers etc).
Maintaining an ongoing inventory of all network devices.
Monitoring and reporting progress and status to the Director.