BY ORIAKU IJELE
The need for Nigeria to diversify her revenues sources came to the fore at the university town of Nsukka, which hosted the 20th edition of the Herbert Macaulay Memorial Lecture, HMML.
This time around, it is coming from Jane Egerton-Idehen, the managing director of Nigerian Communications Satellite, NIGCOMSAT, who was one of the guest lecturers at the event.
Egerton, whose appearance as a lecturer on the forum is epochal being the first woman to deliver a lecture at the Herbert Macaulay Memorial Lecture took the audience through the potential inherent in moving the country towards digital transformation.
In her 40-page paper titled, ‘Championing Innovation: A Look at Digital Transformation and Economic Diversification in Nigeria’, Egerton took the audience through instances of nations of the world which had successful diversified their economies via ICT, and the need for Nigeria to follow double her efforts in this regard.
READ ALSO: Remembering Mallam Umaru Musa Yar’adua: A Tribute to a…
“We shall focus on economic diversification that has resulted from a country’s move from a primary sector to a more complex and advanced structure within traditional industries. A good case is Singapore. In addition, we shall view from the lens of the move from a resource to a non-resource-based economy. We shall anchor this on economic diversification of resource-rich countries or regions like Nigeria, China, Korea, India, Malaysia, Middle East, or Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) moving due to a need to diversify assets and income for strategic reasons in the very long run. We shall consider diversification of the economy and its impact as measured using contribution to the growth of per capita (GDP). Conventionally, economic diversification has been applied by nations as a strategy to encourage positive economic growth and development.”
Areas identified for this transformation include agriculture, financial sector, health and education amongst bothers.
Egerton further mentioned that “Mapping out a plan and intentionality in defining a transformative journey are the first steps in cracking this. Countries like Singapore, the world’s leading smart city and nation; Estonia revolutionising digital technology and leading in deep technologies; Saudi driving its Vision 2030 plans or UAE a boiling point of tech talent with its global tech hub based on the “UAE Vision 2021” have clearly spelt out digital transformation plans. This should be integrated to the overall agenda of the Nation and tracked for performance.
“The Renewed Hope Agenda of President Ahmed Bola Tinubu has clearly enumerated its plans to take advantage of the fourth Industrial revolution. To create one million new jobs in the ICT sector within its first 24 months in office.
It must continue to track and maintain its laudable plans to invest in ICT and the digital economy with the understanding that the increased productivity, job and wealth creation will manifest in different sectors as a result of this. As proposed by the plan, beyond being a tool for Startups for Entrepreneurs to thrive, its efficiencies can be brought to governance and government digital services.”
The 20th Herbert Macaulay Memorial Lecture with the theme, ‘Harnessing Practical Engineering Solutions for Sustainable Economic Development’ had Prof Paul Eke as Chainman and Lead Speaker.
Leave a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.