V
ice President Namadi Sambo, has said that the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan will continue to make concerted efforts at creating an enabling environment to mainstream local content in Information Technology, IT. deployment.
The idea is to ensure that the sector contributes heavily in creating job opportunities.
Speaking on Tuesday at the 2013 edition of eNigeria International Conference in Abuja, Vice President Sambo said apart from creating jobs for the youths, Information Technology will increase the country’s Gross Domestic Product, GDP.
According to him, the essence of the Conference, which has the theme “Local Content in ICT Development in Nigeria: The Journey So Far”, was to set goals and best practices in the areas of ICT development in the country as well as provide a veritable platform for developing appropriate framework and ensuring the requisite awareness amongst key stakeholders that will encourage Nigerian Content in ICT initiative.
The Vice President said that the Federal Government through the National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA, has achieved the successful transfer of the management of the Nigerian domain name, ccTLD, now being managed locally by the Nigeria internet Registration Association, NiRA, as the first step in the quest for local content capability”.
He stated that “no country can play at the global level in the current world without effective and efficient application of Information and Communication Technology, ICT, which is the modern tool of achieving sustainable socio-economic development” stressing that, eNigeria will provide yet another opportunity to improve and increase the Nigerian content in ICT in the quest to transform the country.
Sambo clarified that “the fundamental objective of Nigerian content in ICT is to translate to empowerment of indigenous entrepreneurs and spur corporate investment, advance the development of human capital, provide sustainable employment and deliver goods and services for nation building and global competitiveness”.
“Through eNigeria initiative from inception in 2003, considerable awareness has been created resulting in massive ICT deployment in the functioning of government organisations, education sector as well as the private sector. Consequently, ICT now drives virtually all activities in the Banking and oil and gas sectors. The Automated System for Custom Data, ASYCUDA, e-passport of Immigrations, Health Insurance scheme, National identity scheme, JAMB, WAEC, NYSC and many others have all migrated online”, the VP stated.
Sambo urged the industry giant Microsoft, Intel, HP, Oracle, Google and top government decision makers, to support government vision and shared conviction, in leveraging local content to eradicate poverty and to place the country on a path of sustainable economic development especially in the area of Information and Communication Technology to be unsustainably dominated by foreign technologies.
Earlier, the Minister of Communication Technology, Mrs Omobola Johnson, said the Conference was to provide solution to the problems militating against the development of ICT sector in the country. She later presented the Guideline on Nigeria Content Development in ICT.