The Nigerian
delegation to the 2016 CeBIT led by the Acting Director-General of the National
Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Dr. Vincent Olatunji, is
seeking alternative revenue in the Information and Communication Technology
(ICT) sector, reports ITRealms.
Olatunji, who
represented the Honourable Minister of Communication, Barrister Adebayo Shittu
made this disclosure at a meeting with the management of Deutsche Messe,
organisers of CeBIT, to explore ways of collaboration and how Nigeria as a
country can actively play and participate at CeBIT.
Dr. Olatunji
told the organisers that Nigeria is looking towards ICT as a very good avenue
to tap into so as to shore up her revenue inflow especially as price of oil is
falling at the international market.
Having explained
that the Honourable Minister would have personally attended CeBIT 2016 but was
engaged in another international programme on behalf of the Federal Government
of Nigeria, Dr. Olatunji told his hosts:
“One unique
feature of Nigeria is a huge population of nearly 180 million people who are
very IT savvy. And, currently the government is looking for alternative revenue
channels to oil, hence the government is ready to support the activities
focused on ICT.
“And, backing up
the government’s efforts, stakeholders in the private sector are coming up with
various solutions,” he stated, adding:
“So, I think
CeBIT is the platform where we can really showcase and promote what we have;
and even look for markets for what we have in Nigeria; look for investors for
the young innovators that are coming up; investors that will say if I put in
this amount of money in this idea or solution, in the next five or 10 years,
this is what will likely be the turnover for me.”
Explaining the
uniqueness of Africa’s largest economy, Dr. Olatunji said:
“Because the
market in Nigeria alone is enough to convince an investor to say I really must
go into this market; Nigeria is like putting five to six countries in Africa
into one country, because of the population. And a very high percentage of the
population are the youths, and they are really ready and willing to adopt and
use ICT.
“So next year,
yes, we are willing to work with you; we are willing to partner with you. And,
I am happy that our very important personalities in the government, from the
National Assembly, are here with us.
“In fact, their
presence is a clear testimony to government’s overall preparedness and
willingness to adopt ICT as a reliable alternative to oil for economic growth,
for earning foreign exchange and for growing a self-reliant population.
“We are glad to
further assure you that we will work with you on the part of the Agency in
implementing government’s policies in the area of ICT development in Nigeria.
“For CeBIT 2017,
we will start working towards it immediately; we will not wait till close to
2017 before making the moves. In particular, we are very keen on working to
bring our young innovators to CeBIT 2017 as a country, among other key areas to
showcase.”
Also speaking, the
chairman, House of Representatives Committee on ICT, Honourable Mohammed Onawo,
said, he was impressed with attendance and what he has seen at CeBIT.
“While we were
going round on the guided tour, we visited SAP; and they demonstrated to us
software where everything that is done in government can easily be monitored. I
was excited about that; because what makes most of our governments fail in the
Third World is lack of proper monitoring.
“For instance
when budgets are not monitored, a lot of things are done under assumptions;
results are not achieved at the end of the day. And, I will really want to take
that back home.”
For the chairman,
Senate Committee on ICT, Senator Abdulfatai Buhari, the opportunity of being at
CeBIT 2016 is really commendable.
“I compare it to
what happened in my country some months ago – and I thought if the guy in
question was in Europe or America probably investors would have identified his
talent.
“This Nigerian
in a rural area in the country, manufactured an aircraft, and everybody watched
in amazement; and, like a joke, he was able to fly the aircraft. He tried it
once; the second time, it landed on water. When he was interviewed, he said
that is IT (information technology). But if nobody identifies him that’s how he
could remain with his initiative.
Pix: Nigeria delegation to CeBIT 2016
