Efem Nkanga
23 June 2011
Former President of the Association of Licensed Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Dr Emmanuel Ekuwem, has stated that N6.7billion spent annually for importation of foreign software by financial institutions in Nigeria was unacceptable.
Ekuwem in a chat with THISDAY said in order to ensure the development of Nigerian software, these firms should start cutting back their investments in foreign software and invest in Nigerian software to give the local players a chance to survive.
He said that if Nigerian players were given an opportunity to grow, in five years local development of software and patronage would have increased.
He called for the protection of the Nigerian local market through the provision of incentives that will aid software development.
Ekuwem urged the government to borrow a leaf from America by not only bailing out the software industry by patronising made in Nigeria software, but by also pumping investments intro the sector to make it thrive.
He said that federal agencies should desist from patronising foreign software and protect the local software to aid the growth of the software industry.
He lamented the fact that the ICT sector was still import-based, with such a low level of Nigerian participation in the ICT manufacturing industry.
He said that the country needs to start gradually reversing the trend importing virtually everything that has to do with ICT because when Nigeria import, the Naira is automatically weakened.
He said that apart from the fact that exporting strengthens the Naira, efforts at Nigerian content development in the ICT sector will create jobs, impart skills, empower young people, motivate young people and contribute to taking Nigerian youths off the street.
He said that it was not acceptable that Nigerians were not patronising made-in-Nigeria goods of hardware, software, expertise/consultancy, amongst others, because the development of the ICT manufacturing sub-sector will accelerate the country’s match towards the actualization of Vision 20-20-20.
He said that Nigeria cannot belong to the league of 20 most developed economies of the world, except it changes its approach to 202020.
He added that the actualisation of Vision-20-20-20 will be a cumulative outcome of the efforts of all Nigerians including the government, institutions, organizations and companies coming together in creative work, innovative activities, uninterrupted electric power supply, mass industrialization, automation of socio-economic processes, good corporate governance, transparent democracy, amongst others, in order to build a world class national economy.
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‘N6.7 Billion Annual Spending On Foreign Software, Unacceptable’