The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has predicted increased growth in the Information Technology (IT) sector in Nigeria and other countries.
The agency said the growth would push the outsourcing market presently standing at $500 billion to between $1.65 and $1.8 trillion by 2020.
Director General of NITDA, Prof. Cleopas Angaye, who
gave the prediction in Calabar at a recent software competition conference
organised by the Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON), said
“the Nigerian Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector is growing
by 30 per cent, and its growth rate is second only to China.”
According to him, the success in the Nigerian ICT sector, which
has taken Internet penetration to over 45 million users, was as a result of the
efforts of the agency in partnership with the private sector.
Angaye said Information Technology (IT) development agencies have
a critical role to play in developing the sector of the economy that has high
potential of job creation and revenue generation which would eventually
contribute significantly to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
He explained that NITDA had since inception and by
its 2007 Act played a significant role in promoting Information Technology
development in the country through the creation of enabling environment,
provision of standards and policy guidelines, youth empowerment schemes
especially in the areas of software and web technologies.
It has created awareness in the use of IT and Internet among the populace especially among the urban and the rural dwellers through her rural IT programs.
It has created awareness in the use of IT and Internet among the populace especially among the urban and the rural dwellers through her rural IT programs.
“In view of the importance the federal government attaches to
software development as a key enabler and the bed rock of IT revolution, NITDA
set up the National Software Policy Committee (NSPC) with members drawn from a
broad spectrum of stakeholders to develop National Software Policy (NSP) as a
blueprint aimed at providing a roadmap to make Nigeria a competitive country in
the area of software engineering and development,” Angaye said, adding
that the vision of the policy is to build an innovative nation with
creative minds, connected and propelled by software capability.
He said “when the policy is eventually launched it will provide the much needed impetus for the rapid development of the software industry in Nigeria.”
He informed that an analysis of the software sector of the Nigeria
economy reveals that a large population has passion for learning and strong
entrepreneurial culture and drive.
“We believe that the enabling environment and regulatory framework
provided by the policy will provide the needed incentive for the innovative
skills of the youthful Nigeria population, and this will eventually translate
the Nigerian software industry to be highly competitive, create employment,
stimulate the growth of IT-Enabled Services (ITES), reduce cost of running
businesses in Nigeria and increase investors’ confidence” he said.
Emma Okonji
ThisDay Nigeria
ThisDay Nigeria