The choice
of Kenya as the location for International Business Machines (IBMs) first
research laboratory in Africa is raising fears that Nigeria is being left
behind with regard to Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
development.
When IBM,
the $230 billion American Information Technology (IT) and Software Company
sought a spot in Africa to build its new research centre, it didn’t pick
Nigeria with its 168 million people and $270 billion economy.
It chose
Kenya instead, a country whose economy at $34 billion, is about the size of
Lagos (Nigeria’s commercial capital), and has a population seven times smaller
than Nigeria’s.
IBM, with
an annual research budget of $6.5 billion, runs similar research facilities in
11 other countries, but this is the first in Africa.
The new
research centre project announced last week is a joint venture between the
Kenyan government’s ICT Board and IBM, with each contributing $10 million of
funding over the next five years.
For
stakeholders, this highlights the risk that Nigeria may be falling behind peer
countries such as South Africa, Kenya and Egypt in IT, software development and
skilled ICT manpower development. “In terms of education we are behind. Kenya’s
tech scene did not just explode over-night, they had it coming,” Francis Onwumere,
a Nigerian developer at Digital Craft Studios, the company behind prowork project management application that makes team collaboration easy,
said.
“They
invested in competence and they are reaping the benefits.” The choice of Kenya (which aims to be
an IT hub in Africa) by IBM did not come by accident, as the country has been
an incubator for software development and has plans to build its own Silicon
Valley, called Konza, a 5,000-acre site which will eventually be a cluster of
technology companies plus a university.
Kenya is
also a global leader in mobile money, with its award winning MPESA service. IBM’s Kenya laboratory will seek to
develop technology-assisted solutions to the problems of Africa’s fast-growing
cities (Africa has 52 cities of more than a million people — more than are in
Europe).
Lab-location
decisions are based mainly on the lure of “smart people and real-world problems
and opportunities,” said John E. Kelly,
I.B.M.’s senior vice president for research.
In addition,
it will be the center for a “resident scientist programme,” which will bring in
researchers from Nairobi and elsewhere in Africa to collaborate with I.B.M.
scientists.
Nigeria,
which however had high hopes of becoming a hub for ICT in Africa, seems to be
under performing, and not leveraging on its seeming advantages.
Osamuyi
Stewart, (a
Nigerian) services strategy manager for IBM said, “Other African governments
are beginning to formulate plans, but Kenya is very advanced – they were ready
for this in terms of know-how.” Read More