Local content identified as main solution to ICT problems

Players in the Information Communication Technology (ICT) industry are saying that the implementation of local content policy in the sector is the solution Nigeria needs to move forward.

The core of the local content policy developed by the National Information Technolgy Development Agency (NITDA) seeks to enable the local ICT industry to contribute meaningfully towards the achievement of national development targets.

The local content policy is a developmental initiative of the Federal Government which was necessitated by the compelling need to diversify the Nigerian economy from the oil and gas sector to ICT which has been identified as a critical growth sector of Nigeria’s economy.

It was therefore developed in a patriotic and strategic drive to build the capacity of the indigenous IT companies to allow them to take advantage of the opportunities in ICT.

ICT ranks as one of the country’s major contributors to its GDP with about 11 percent. However, industry players continue to worry that its growth has not yet translated into jobs and wealth for the nation, given the simple reason that indigenous companies either lack the capacity or the opportunity to leverage this growth potential to participate significantly at many levels of the ICT value chain.

Leo- Stan Ekeh, chairman of Zinox group told BusinessDay that the policy is still not fully implimented, as local IT practitioners are not being supported by the federal government.

“Even the concession we use to have for assembling computers locally has been removed by the government. We now have to pay duties,” he said.

Stakeholders see the need for government to begin to look in the direction of indigenous players in the technology industry by implementing the local content policy.

It would be recalled that in 2012, the Federal Government mandated all its Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to purchase computers made by indigenous companies such as Zinox Technologies, Brian Technologies, Omatek Computers, Beta Computers and Veda Computers, among others, in keeping with its resolve to also promote local content in the ICT industry.

There was also a deadline that was placed on that directive, but three years after, indigenous computer companies are complaining that nothing was done to enforce these policies and make sure that the directive was strictly adhered to.

They say that over the years, they have seen series of national projects being carried out with HP, Dell and other foreign brands of computers being deployed.

A recent survey has it that 99% of indigenous ICT companies are short-lived because of government neglect, hence it is critical for government to reposition local content policy through a Public Private Partnership approach, whereby stakeholders will be involved in policy formation.

Florence Seriki, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Omatek Ventures, said the main problem with the directive made by previous administrations was that the policies were made without the involvement of key stakeholders in the Industry.

“It is not good enough for policies to be formulated and nobody cares about it. There are things that need to be done. For example, we say that we need to start producing cars locally; we have to set up guidelines. There should be people to enforce that all of us meet quality standards,” she said.

“There should be people to ensure that things are done in the right perspective. We have now defined clearly what the role of the ministry should be, what the role of NITDA should be and moving forward, we hope not to encounter such issues anymore,” she added.

Chijioke Anthony Eke, Co-founder and Chairman, Sidmach Technologies told BusinessDay in an interview that; “All we need in Nigeria’s ICT industry right now is policy direction. With that, something positive will clearly emerge in the next few years and those indigenous companies that can add value are those that will remain.”

“Our collective responsibility is to kick start this development. Most people have smart phones and smart devices but none is made in Nigeria, how many are even made in Africa.

“So the challenge before us is to find a way to bring these things down here, not just to assemble because we can see the effect of assembling. Those who assembled IT systems like servers, desktops, laptops are huffing and puffing because the market is not there.”

Although Nigerians are in support of local content development and encourage indigenous technology companies, some have expressed diverse opinions about the enforcement of local content policy.

Tunde Adebiyi, the owner of a shop at Nigeria’s famous Computer Village in Ikeja Lagos, told BusinessDay that development in Nigeria’s IT industry will only be achieved if healthy competition is promoted and not by law enforcement.

“There are different computers and phones manufactured in the United States of America and even in China for US IT companies; however the US allows healthy competition with other computer and telephone manufacturers.

“For example, Apple products stand out by their quality, public appeal awareness. No government enforced it on its people. There is no need for local content policy in Nigeria. The quality of the products should speak for itself, and if it meets or even surpasses the quality of foreign products then we would sell it” he said.

Olasubomi Shodipo, Commercial Director at CF mobile limited, told BusinessDay that “the market should be free and fair and government should not force products on the people at prices chosen by manufacturers.

“My customers do not request for locally manufactured computers and most of these computers are only assembled in Nigeria and not made here, so they might even end up being more expensive than the foreign brands because of the high cost of production, importation and assemblage.

Jumoke Akiyode