Stakeholders in the telecom industry have backed the decision of the federal government of Nigeria to ban the importation of digital technology products in the country.
Isa Ali Pantami, minister for communication and digital technology declared the ban while delivering a special remark at the Digital Nigeria International Conference, held recently in Abuja.
According to the minister, the federal government will not accept importation of digital tech products “until and unless the country is convinced that capacity to develop such product and service is not readily available within the country.”
However, stakeholders who spoke to businessDay said the minister made the right decision capable of tackling unemployment, foreign exchange issues and changing the entire tech ecosystem.
“This shows that the ministry of communication and digital economy want to save the continuous depreciation of the Naira currency. Nigeria spends billions procuring electronic and digital devices. What the minister said is the way to go and the federal government to support him. We have to participate in the value chain of all the equipment. We cannot continue to strengthen the economy of other countries by depending on them for importation,” Ajibola
Olude, secretary, Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria said.
According to the ATCON secretary, there have been issues of balance of payment imbalance over the months which have resulted in the rise in Dollar and banning importation of these products for local production will help in addressing them.
Olude stated that Nigeria has the input to produce locally and just have to harness it and begin to produce, adding that Nigeria will conserve a lot in terms of currency crises if the minister is given necessary support. He said, “It is not about having the capacity at the moment but building the capacity.”
Citing China who is now one of the world’s leading technology giants, the ATCON executive said there was a time when China was at the starting point and Nigerians needed to emulate them. Olude said, “We have the raw materials. We need to train Nigerians to do all these and conserve our hard currency. Initially, we would have to Import people that will transfer the technical know-how to Nigerians. We don’t participate in the production value chain and that is where money lies. We cannot continue to consume, let’s do both.”
“Nokia, Samsung and others should come and establish offices in Nigeria. It is high time to encourage investors and manufacturers to come to Nigeria and do it. We need to start producing our smart watches, telephones, laptops and others. It is long overdue and we have to encourage it”
Gbolahan Awonuga, chief operating officer, Association of Licensed Telecommunication of Nigeria (ALTON) said, “There is nothing bad in banning the importation of digital tech products. We need to be self-reliant. We are talking of Dollar to Naira now, there is nothing we are doing here and with the number of start-ups that we are now building, I think it is the right thing to do.”
“I think we should start from somewhere. Capacity is not built in a day. It is a process and if you don’t ban it, we will not start but once we start all the loopholes will be blocked and things will improve”
Gboola disclose that the telecommunication sector is the new Oil and need every support t required to scale, thrive and meet up with international standard.
“The dollar is the international legal tender and we are not producing anything. So there is no way you will sell out and bring in forex. We are consuming states. The oil that we rely on is not doing well in recent times. The telecom is the new oil contributing majorly to the country’s Gross Domestic Profit (GDP). If we continue in this direction, maybe in the near future, Nigeria may be king in terms of ICT,” Awonuga said.
The COO also disclosed that it will serve as a big source of Job creation to Nigerians especially the youth and bring back Nigerian developers who have travelled outside the country amid the “Japa wave” to participate in the country’s ICT development.
“This ban of importation will also facilitate local production thereby creating more employment, especially for the youths. The issue of ‘Yahoo’ (cybercrime) which is on the high rate now will reduce among them and those who have ‘japa’ out of the country will come back to partake in the process,” he said.
