Olorugun James Emadoye, the President of Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON) has called on Nigerian government and business owners to quit importing software that is either available in the country or can be easily developed by the many mobile, resourceful and technology savvy youths in Nigeria.
Emadoye said this while delivering his welcome speech at the 8th annual ISPON President Dinner held at the Federal Palace Hotel in Lagos on Friday March 31, 2017.
According to the ISPON President, “existing records show that 350,000 students are currently studying Computer Science and active in 225 chapters of NACOSS (Nigeria Association of Computer Science Students) in over 100 Universities and Polytechnics (source NACOSS), without hope to secure employment.”
“It must be clearly stated that when you buy application software from another country, you are providing jobs for people in that country and denying jobs for Nigerian youths, especially those studying Computer Science in Nigeria,” Emadoye said.
Stakeholders at the event clearly stated that this is because Nigerian government is not doing much to support the local software industry even though there have been so much talk about its potential to boost the economy, as in the case of India.
According to Adedotun Sulaiman, Chairman iDea, “We have often times seen government representatives come out to say all sorts of nice things about how technology can transform the country, how much it can contribute to our GDP and all sorts but they would never put their money where their mouth is.
“As I speak, the two hubs created to breed and grow information technology developers in Nigeria have closed down due to lack of government support and funding. iDea hub in Yaba closed shop two days ago because we were owing rent, internet service providers and the rest, so how do we want to grow IT and software development in this country when we cannot support the ones we have?,” Sulaiman said.
Experts in the industry say the sad part of the story is that the software sector, if properly managed, could make up for the shortfall in crude oil earnings which has driven the economy into recession.
One of the biggest challenges in the industry is that while local expertise is strong, both the government and the private sector in Nigeria still patronise foreign software solutions after a decade of promising to implement the local content policy.
Also speaking, Kyari Bukar, Chairman, Nigeria Economic Summit Group (NESG) said, “We have seen people put sweat into something and when no money is invested in that project, it dies.
“We cannot wait for government to do everything because we know that in Nigeria, when one government starts one thing, it is not continued by the next government. So we the practitioners in this room that know the value of software and technology should make sure we invest in it to keep it running for the good of everyone,” Kyari opined.
Emadoye said software happens to be one critical field of endeavour which can provide some comfort and solace to a large population of youths of a nation such as ours.
“Software is a knowledge culture such as Nollywood, for which the major investment required to thrive is a natural God given head, a laptop and software tools investment which does not cost a fortune,” which makes it easier to develop and grow the industry to reap major benefits for the economy.
Jumoke Akiyode
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