The Nigerian ICT hardware and services industry was estimated at $39.7 billion in 2014, and forecast to grow to $144 billion by 2020. Within these numbers lie jobs, innovative potential, and overall development. Unlocking the value though, is probably easier said than done. However, with steely focussed leadership, an understanding of the issues, clear targets, well designed execution plans, and measurement indices, significant strides can be achieved.
In my humble view, there are five broad thematic areas that we now need to focus upon. And with urgency.
1/ Clarity Of Government organisation – This may be the moment to courageously implement many aspects of the National ICT policy that proposes far reaching convergence of powers and clear delineation of roles. One regulator superintends spectral recourses, Infrastructure,and service quality. Another regulates all broadcast content on any device, whether fixed or mobile. A development agency undertakes all development interventions and also drives the optimisation of ICT use in critical sectors like health, education and financial payments. Government companies competing with private sector for Government patronage ought to be privatised or refocussed. These action steps will enable long term investors to obtain critical clarity of the market organisation. With a clear ecosystem, Government can run a lean, result oriented system that is devoid of regulatory overlaps, duplication of resources, waste, duplicated taxation, interagency disputes, and market distortion.
It is only with a clear, functioning and efficient ecosystem, that emphasises standards, that long term investments can truly flow into the sector, in a sustainable manner.
2/We must partake in the hardware and content production market. The numbers vary but with over 100m lines, it is easy to compute the Nigerian mobile handset and accessory market in the billions of USD per annum. If we add the tablet and pc market as areas where we should be partaking more forcefully, one can see that securing even a small slice of this market will create jobs, deepen specialization, and even position us – with our comparative manpower advantage – to evolve into an exporting hub, at least for the sub-regional market. With committed leadership at the customs to ensure a level playing field that neutralises the import duty avoidance that many importers are alleged to enjoy, I believe that we can assemble ICT devices competitively and to the highest international standards, if we intensify efforts at deepening our Standards Administration and Monitoring Framework, and urgently embark upon the Construction of Shared Infrastructure Production Parks to aggregate key manufacturing cost inputs like power, water supplies, transportation routes labour pool etc; thereby reducing cost of unit production and enabling sustainable support of tens of thousands of primary jobs. These parks, which have driven manufacturing revolutions in Asia, and now in parts of Africa, can also feature technology incubation hubs and career development training, perhaps even with ‘hands on learning’ in collaboration with businesses manufacturing on the park.
By the end of 2015, we are told that Nigerians would have spent about N54bn on Video on Demand streaming, according to Ericsson’s ConsumerLab in its first ever Television and Media Report. The company stated that from a possible population of about 100 million people living in the country, its findings showed that only 27 per cent (27 million) of them streamed videos.
Yet what quantum of this N54b really delivered value to Nigeria? What quantum was invested in knowledge acquisition or business velocity? What quantum was “locked down” as earnings for Nigerian innovators? These are areas where we need to aggressively deepen engagement, and also have a clear measurement framework for. Not gaining productivity may in a sense make our telecoms availability a source of capital flight – albeit in a virtual sense. With our creative asset base, emphasis must be placed on how to make content creation and monetisation easy and devoid of the complexities associated with the current Content creation ecosystem. Content aggregators, fairer operator revenue share agreements, Software skills development initiatives,IP awareness and a handful of other inputs will catalyze a content production base that will enable thousands of people to be global innovation entrepreneurs, in turn creating jobs down the content value chain.
3/A Clear ICT investment plan is critical if the true potentials of the sector are to be harnessed. The plan must be anchored in law and common sense regulation and must emphasise a ‘depoliticization’ orientation. Investors must be protected and encouraged through incentive schemes. Special long term funding must be put in place to encourage more local funding. Emphasis must be placed on optimising broadband deployment to ensure affordable and widespread access to qualitative services. Investors must be able to get accurate data, obtain government permits; etc, within prescribed time windows and with clearly communicated costs. The investment plan must earmark a portion onto skills development ( this may be from the funding pool of the development agency), with such skill development programs tightly aligned to our national development plans, and long term ICT technology skill requirements. In the absence of a plan that is visibly adhered to, the market will have incursion opportunities for ‘arbitrage minded’ investors , and put proper long term investors at significant risk.
4/Governance and security trajectories are critical. Although it is unclear to what extent Government has executed critical components along this trajectory, what is crystal clear is that flesh must now be put around the bones of the new cyber-crimes laws. A National level CERT – CYBER EMERGENCY RESPONSE TEAM ( infrastructure, human resources and intersection levels with other CERTS) is an imperative to preempt and respond to cyber emergencies. Cyber warfare, industrial espionage and threats to National economies are real. Deeper ethics and monitoring must be introduced into the ICT sector to prevent a preponderance of skilled but ” criminally minded” people who will become a threat to the overall nations financial, and even security architecture. There are numerous disturbing trends already. ICT in Governance must also include technologies and tools that ensure judicious application of governments resources, supports executive, judiciary and legislative activities, and serves as a transparency enabler by delivering visibility to citizens.
5/Cost containment is the final thematic area. Achieving significant progress in terms of developing ICT infrastructure and also leveraging ICT for development will require capital and recurrent expenditure, largely incurred in foreign exchange as a huge component of technology infrastructure, professional services and support resources will be imported. Optimization of CAPEX and OPEX components is critical, and can yield savings of billions of USD, even in a relatively short haul. The consequences of not paying enough attention to “tech” drainpipes are evident in over bloated implementation costs, excessive software licensing/support fees, wrongly designed/specified architecture, borderline anti-competitive practices; and other anomalies that cost the government and Private sector billions of dollars every year. Worse still, with this paradigm, the local ICT development will be impaired from achieving its true potential. Although local resellers take a small slice of the pie, the large chunks that are present in a “cost misaligned framework”, go to huge multi-nationals, based in other countries. This enables them to make more profits, provide jobs for their people, accelerate knowledge acquisition and thus further extend their comparative advantages.
The industry is dynamic and never sleeps. We have to rise to the opportunities afforded by the moment.
