Nigeria loses $2.8bn to capital flight — Shittu

NIGERIA is said to have lost about $2.8 billion to capital flight in the ICT sector as a result of Nigerians apathy for locally produced information and communication products and services.

Speaking at the Afritex ICT Export Industrial Forum and Expo 2016 recently, the Minister for Communication, Mr. Abdul-Raheem Adebayo Shittu disclosed that Nigeria is ceding about 70 per cent of the country’s technology market to the foreign brands as a result of this apathy.

He said the Federal Government is ready to re-validate its directive on the patronage of locally produced information and communications technology (ICT) products and services by the ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) of government as a means of promoting local content in the sector.

“The Local Content Development Policy would be implemented to protect indigenous players in the industry and the ministry would galvanise right policies that would see to the need of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs). Let me emphasize here, very strongly, that government’s role is to provide an enabling environment within a free market economy.”

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According to him, the Federal Government has expressed its readiness to boost local content in the Information Communication Technology (ICT) sector in order to make it compete favourably in the global market, adding that the Ministry had in March 2016 held a workshop in collaboration with NITDA on stakeholders’ compliance on the procurement of ICT products and services under the local content guidelines by MDAs.

In addition to this, the minister said, Federal Government moved to replicate the successful implementation of the Nigerian Content policy in the oil and gas industry and other key sectors of the economy with the setting up of the Office for Nigerian Content Development in ICT.

Berating the high consumption rate of imported ICT goods and services in the country, the minister said “under my watch, Nigeria will not be a dumping ground for all forms of technologies”.

He commended the resolution of leading computer manufacturing companies in Nigeria to come under an umbrella body called Certified Computer Manufacturers of Nigeria (CCMON) with the aim of working with all relevant stakeholders to grow the capacity of Nigeria computer manufacturers. This, he said, “will generate increased employment, strengthening the Naira and grow our local economy.”

This is within acceptable quality and standards in order to stimulate the development of indigenous capabilities. The minister asserted that the patronage is aimed to achieve the development of local skills, technology transfer, use of local manpower and manufacturing, and that it will have a triple effect to increase demand, thereby creating jobs and contributing to the job and wealth creation component of the government’s change mantra.