TELECOMMUNICATIONS companies in Nigerian have said that the present government does not have any interest in making ICT the main source of the nation’s economy.
According to the telecoms companies, if the government was serious about making telecoms the alternative to oil and gas as the main source of growing Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product, it would have make it easy for them to access FOREX from the Central Bank of Nigeria instead of leaving them to their fate.
Speaking to experts at a Technology Conference in Lagos, on the topic: Beyond Oil: ICT As a Viable Alternative for Wealth Creation, the President of the Association Telecommunications Companies of the Nigeria, ATCON, Mr. Teniola Olusola said that it is an obvious fact that more than 70 percent of ICT components are currently being imported from abroad.
He lamented that although the sector is contributing circa eight percent “to our Gross Domestic Product. Our members can no longer buy USD$ directly from CBN designated banks again and this has pushed the cost of doing business higher.”
According to him, ATCON has at different fora emphasised the urgent need to diversify partly or completely from depending on the revenue derivable from oil to an ICT driven economy to run our overall economy but we were not taken seriously then.
He said that the ICT sector, if properly developed could serve as a replacement for the Oil and Gas sector in boosting Nigeria’s economy, and that the price of oil has continued to fall uncontrollably which poses a threat to the national economy.
Olusola suggested, “We have to look for a way out by devising viable policy pathways and economic sectors that will enhance national wealth and create employment for the populace, and one of the surest way out, is to give due attention to the development of the Information and Communication Technology sector, for example in India, China, Singapore and Brazil, ICT is used as the basis by these countries to develop innovative solutions, for example, cars that use electric/solar power energy.”
He also advised that to stem the imbalance in the supply and demand of foreign exchange, what the Federal Government needs to consider is to encourage the establishment of companies that manufacture these components (or assemble them) in Nigeria with some incentives and for government to further sponsor ICT parks.
While calling for the refocusing of the nation’s education polices, he said that the number of people who want to study science related courses are small (and in most cases reducing) in relation to students who want to study commercial or social science related courses.
He said that “the trend painted above can never solve our challenges, therefore, we need to begin to redirect the focus of students on the need to study science related courses. The Federal Government should make studying of science courses interesting by providing a conducive learning environment and state of the art laboratory equipment for students.”
The ATCON leader urged the Federal Government should begin to focus more on other alternative means of generating income and their focus should be on increasing government spending and budget allocation to funding the ICT sector for the purpose of making its products and services exportable, thereby allowing it to contribute to our foreign earnings.
He also said that in order for the ICT sector to supplement or replace the Oil and Gas sector, policies which favour the sector must be put in place, and that it should be emphasised that “the petroleum industry which used to be the cash cow for our nation (from a foreign exchange earning perspective) is not doing so well right now and this is a global issue that will take some time to recover.”
He added: “The direct implication of this is that we may not be able to finance our budget without resorting to further government borrowing. ICT can as a matter of fact serve as the new cash cow for the country provided the right polices are put in place.”
No comments:
Post a Comment