Zinox boss, others urge government to implement local content in ICT
Founder and Chairman of Zinox Technologies Ltd, Leonard Stanley Nnamdi Ekeh and other stakeholders in Information communication Technology (ICT) sector have called on the government to implement local content in ICT in order to boost the country’s economy.
The stakeholders made the disclosure at the Technology Times Outlook 2017 summit held recently.
Zinox boss said “Today, it is better that government talks about local content but have they implemented it? The answer is no. It is a big talk to get the budget and when they get the budget, they disappear with it. The only local content talked about in this country is the oil sector where there is no pre-qualification for you to enter.
“You can just go there and register a company and then the country sees you as a successful person immediately you say ‘James and John oil and gas servicing company’, even your village people believe you are very rich”, he pointed.
Furthermore, he explained that the government patronizes foreign competitors at the expense of local technology companies that produce quality products of international standards.
“Any government you bring here will tell you ‘local content’ but what is he using? What is his child using? We pay the money, they patronize others, and you want to raise revenue, internally generated revenue.
“I pay tax, you patronize my competitors and what is complicated about application? And even this application you are looking for, what percentage of it do you really need to use? What is complicated about hardware?” Ekeh noted.
On the same note, CEO of Precise Financial Services (PFS), Mr. Yele Okeremi urged the government to focus on developing local content by patronizing Nigeria’s technology companies.
“We have a high propensity to consume technology in the country and we still spend a lot of money on foreign applications. The biggest spender today is the government; we need to look for ways to unpack the money the government spends on foreign computers.
“The government needs to focus on developing content. I think the government can really help in catalyzing content because there’s no need spending on applications like Finnale and the rest when we have the necessary required manpower and Intel here in Nigeria just like we have outside,” Okeremi said.
Helen Anatogu, CEO of iDEA Hub said the country has not fully utilized the potential of technology to drive sustainable economic growth.
“Nigeria has largely ignored the potential impact of technology entrepreneurship and innovation on economic growth and has failed to consciously develop this area. Other countries have long understood the importance of innovation and entrepreneurship to drive economic growth. The United States for example, though rich in natural resources built its economy on a culture that is particularly receptive to innovation and risk taking as well as institutions and an economic incentive regime which supported entrepreneurship.” She stated.
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