Nigeria’s National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has high hopes for the country’s tech ecosystem. It believes that the ecosystem has the potential of becoming a catalyst for sustainable economic growth across nations.
According to DG/CEO of the agency, Dr. Isa Pantami, Nigeria’s tech ecosystem as it is today could produce the next Mark Zuckerberg. He made these bold claims while speaking at the sixth edition of StartUPNigeria that was organised by the Office for ICT Innovation and Entrepreneurship (OIIE).
Pantami noted that ICT could now determine the survival of any business in the competitive world by providing ample opportunities for growth and profitability. He hinted that the agency has updated its processes to ensure proper regulation and development, crucial for supporting the startup and entrepreneurs ecosystem in the Country.
He opined that NITDA’s interwoven roles are relevant for the country to achieve its purpose of “creative transformation of knowledge and ideas into new products, processes, or services meeting market needs, which culminates in successful enterprises”.
He believes that the competitiveness of any economy in the long term depends on innovation potential of the economy gained through entrepreneurship and effective technology transfer, especially now that revenue from the ‘oil and gas’ industry is on downward trend.
According to Pantami, Nigeria’s economy cannot continue to be entirely based on oil since other countries are moving away from the fossil resource.
He added, “We believe Lagos is home to innovative startups; thus, we intend to assist them improve on their works. The truth is this: our country relies solely on oil and gas sector; in UK for instance by 2040 they intend to ban diesel or petrol cars, so our reliance on oil is disturbing.
“We have to move from oil resource to knowledge-based economy. ICT has the answer to this. The contribution of 12.6% of ICT to GDP is second to oil at the moment, but will soon takeover. India depends on ICT as $143billion annual comes from ICT; Nigeria accounts for 180million with 60% young people who are addicted to ICT.
“Today, you can’t do without smart devices or not connected; it’s not worth trying. We as ICT natives are addicted to it. The best way is not importation, but using our intellects to develop. No country will survive depending on ICT importation. We have met with OEMs to see how to reduce the level of importation. We want to have a ‘Mark Zuckerberg’ in Nigeria. Nigeria is closer to having own Zuckerberg and we shall surely support the process that will produce that platform”.
1 Comment
I have hope too in the Nigeria Tech. This article have said it all. It’s the high time we stop depending on oil & gas and face the reality.