Buhari urges investors to harness Nigeria’s ICT potentials

President Muhammadu Buhari has urges investors and stakeholders in Nigeria’s ICT industry to take advantage of the huge opportunities in the industry as Nigeria continues with its economic diversification efforts.  

Buhari gave this indication while declaring open the 2017 e-Nigeria conference, organised by National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) at the International Conference Centre, Abuja on Tuesday.

Speaking on the conference theme- “Fostering a Digital Economy Through Local Content Development and Effective Regulation,” Buhari said ICT has a critical role to play in Nigeria’s economic diversification.

He said the sector has recorded huge investments and contributes over 10% of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), stressing that his administration would continue making conscious efforts to see that the ICT contribution continues to grow in the next few years.

“As the most populous country in Africa, there are huge opportunities for ICT manufacturing in Nigeria. This, when harnessed, will provide job opportunities for our teaming youths, enhance the quality of  locally produced infrastructure, reduce cost of acquisition and  increase government revenue.”

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He also tasked participants at the conference to come with practical, viable solutions and recommendations to further develop local content in ICT as well as how best to use ICT to foster a digital economy in Nigeria.

According to him, about 80% of ICT hardware purchases were imported through local distributors of Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) by MDAs and other government establishments.

He said this made it difficult for Nigeria to benefit from the dividends of continuous procurement and consumption of ICT infrastructure and limited value retention within the country.

“There is, therefore, the need for deliberate efforts, both from government as well as the private sector to see to the realisation of this. I urge you to come up with viable recommendations on how we can make the country an export hub for ICT hardware in Africa,” President Buhari declared.

He said his administration recently issued an Executive Order mandating all ministries, departments and agencies to give preference to locally manufactured goods and services in their procurement of information technology services.

This measures, Buhari explained are part of the deliberate efforts at encouraging local manufacture of ICT infrastructure, creating job opportunities, providing investment opportunities as well as strengthening the Naira.

He also commended NITDA’s efforts on fostering the patronage of indigenous IT products and services through continuous engagement with indigenous OEMs, relevant stakeholders and other laudable initiatives, but stressed the need to do more in harnessing the potentials as a tool for national development.