Accra (Greater Accra) 1st June '99

The Millennium Bug problem that comes into effect on the midnight of December 31, 1999, will affect electric power generation and supply.

It will also affect aircraft navigation, transportation, and bank transactions, as well as the telecommunications industry and any equipment that has micro-chips embedded in it.

Commander Pius M. G. Griffiths, a deputy minister of communications in charge of Information Technology, said this in Accra on Friday at the AITEC Ghana '99 conference and exhibition.

He said economic, security and social matters will be affected, noting:

"with the increasing interconnected and complex global economy, as well as their interdependency, no organisation, no matter how small, even if unwired, can claim to be free of the risk and exposure to the Y2K problem.

It will be a disaster for any individual organisation to think that it is a problem for the government to solve."

Cdr. Griffiths said the government is taking all steps to ensure that its services are not interrupted in any way.

He said overcoming the year 2000 problem, therefore, is a critical survival issue for many organisations and that action is needed to ensure continuity of business and social services.

"Initially, the problem was viewed as an IT problem. However, now everyone has recognised it to be a business issue with much wider implications, the paramount one being business survival.

"Potentially, the problem affects all software and microprocessors, which have date awareness or dependency," Cdr. Griffiths stressed.