NIGERIA Invest in 2012-13 - Newsdesk Media

The information and communications
technology industry has been hailed as the
next big growth area in Nigeria. But as
Martyn Cornell discovers, much could depend
on the level of foreign investment in the sector,
and whether this would encourage native-born
IT talent to come back home
hard-working, entrepreneurial in nature and
hungry for technology. If given the chance
and the enabling environment to develop
their inherent skills, they will not only
thrive but will make Nigerians and Africans proud.” With
these words, the Minister of Communication Technology,
Mrs Omobola Johnson, announced at the end of January
2012 plans to build an initial four software-incubation
centres in Nigeria to help the country’s software developers,
part of a booming Information Communication Technology
(ICT) sector, tap into the multibillion dollar worldwide
applications-development market.
The Youth Empowerment and ICT
Foundation programme, sponsored by the
“The youth of Nigeria are dynamic,
Jim Ovia Foundation, includes as its strategic
partners some of the biggest names in global
IT – Google, IBM and Microsoft – as well as
local companies, including the Nigerian
telecoms firm Visafone and the Lagos-based
website designer TLC Solutions.
A committee has been set up with
figures from both the private and public
sectors to develop a framework for the establishment
of more technology incubation centres across the country,
Johnson said at the time. The initial effort includes a
“world-class” software training programme being run by
the Jim Ovia Foundation for 350 youths in Lagos and pilot
technology business incubation centres in Abuja, Lagos,
Calabar, Kano and Port Harcourt.
It is part of a strategy to boost the Nigerian IT sector,
using local talent partnered with overseas expertise and
support. It also includes the founding of a professionally
managed IT innovation venture-capital fund with initial seed
capital provided by the Nigerian government, together with
contributions from the private sector; support for start-up
concerns in the form of business services; a strong mentoring
framework involving successful business entrepreneurs offering
INDUSTRIAL INFRASTRUCTURE 133
advice, guidance and support; and a “transparent and
credible” process to select the initial start-up “incubates”.
Johnson admitted that in the past, Nigeria’s software
developers had complained that the government had failed to
give the IT industry enough support, either by providing the
proper infrastructure for innovation to blossom, or through
policies such as tax breaks, tariffs and levies designed to boost
and protect Nigerian IT companies. Nigerian software
companies also complained that local venture capitalists shied
away from funding start-ups in technology sectors that seem
“complicated”, and in the past there has been a lack of
funding bodies focused on information technology. The result
has been that Nigeria has lost an estimated N18.9 billion
($117 million) in the past five years in money that has gone
abroad because of the purchase of foreign software that could
have been developed at home, said Johnson.
“We in the Ministry understand these issues well, and
there is clarity about the role that government can and should
play,” Johnson said. The new IT framework has been designed
to tackle the problems software developers in Nigeria have
been facing, and build a thriving software industry, she added.
“Everything is being done in strong partnership and
Encouraging private operators to
rollout a nationwide high-speed
internet infrastructure is a priority
collaboration with the private sector and industry stakeholders.
We hope that business entrepreneurs, state governments,
unilateral bodies and even like-minded groups of youths
will adopt this framework.”
The announcement of the training and incubation
initiative, called ‘Developing Nigeria’s Next Generation of ICT
Entrepreneurs’, came just weeks after the unveiling of a new
ICT policy by the Ministry of Communication Technology that
is designed to be the overarching guide and platform for the
development of Nigeria’s ICT industry, with the aim of creating
a digital, knowledge-based economy in the country. The
ambition is to push the contribution of ICT to Nigeria’s GDP up
from its current figure of four per cent to six per cent by 2015.
One of the priorities of Nigeria’s new IT strategy is to
encourage private operators to roll-out a nationwide high-speed
INvEST IN NIGERIA 2012-13