NITDA’s roadmap can save Nigeria $3.8Bn annually to boost ICT product

A coalition of civil society group, Transparency Advocacy Initiative Nigeria, has said that Nigeria can save about $3.8 billion annually if it adheres to the road map by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) to boost local production of information and communications technology (ICT) products.

The coalition decried that loses being experienced in the country every year to importation of ICT goods services and software that can be produced locally.

Solomon Adodo, convener of the coalition, however lauded recent efforts by NITDA under its new Director General, Isa Ibrahim to sanitise the sector in Nigeria.

Adodo added that the agency under its new Director General, “whose sole and singular pursuit is to make NITDA a leader in information technology development that can measure up to the best global standards”.

He stated that the efforts of NITDA were beginning to be felt in contract awards and procurement by government agencies and in monitoring of importation of ICT products by Ministries, Departments and Agencies, (MDAs) into the country.

“In the few instances where contracts were awarded, they have been handled in strict adherence to due process. This measure has helped to ensure that the best standards are attained in projects execution at NITDA and shifted the focus away from contracts to the core productivity and regulatory objectives of the Agency.”

He urged the government to ensure that the money being wasted through capital flight and forex in the importation of ICT products should be used to boost local production as well as revamp the country’s ICT sector.

“The determined effort being made by NITDA to boost local content is a masterstroke that will reverse capital flight and loss of forex as this will save the nation an estimated $3.8 billion that is annually lost to importation of ICT goods services and software”, Mr. Adodo said.

He called on MDAs to strengthen their collaborations with NITDA in the execution of their Info-tech projects to ensure that premium standards were maintained and local content enhanced.

In the recent past, he said fake and substandard products almost saturated the ICT market and affected efficiency and productivity in nearly all sectors of the economy.