Following the call of the National Information Technology Development Agency for the reduction of the $2 billion annual losses to Information Technology importations, lawmakers in the National Assembly have risen to the occasion.
They, at the weekend, disclosed their readiness to ensure IT startups, which are being presented for global pitch at the Gulf Information Technology Exhibition, Dubai, United Arab Emirate, have access to reasonable years of ‘tax holiday’.
Chairman, Senate Committee on ICT and Cybersecurity, Mr. Abdul Fatai Buhari, and his counterparts in the House of Representatives, Mr. Onawo Ogoshi, who joined the NITDA management to undertake a tour of the solutions being showcased by the 10 startups, said they were impressed by the solutions Nigeria was showcasing at the annual event.
“This is how Microsoft, Google, Facebook and several others of such IT companies started and as lawmakers, our mandate is to always enact laws that would support local innovations,” Buhari said.
Meanwhile, NITDA has requested for concerted efforts that will help the country reduce or stop the $2 billion losses to IT importations.
The Director-General, NITDA, Dr. Isa Pantami, warned that the country must stop being a consuming nation but a producing one, stressing that this would prevent dumping of various foreign technologies on the country.
About 10 Nigerian tech startups are participating at this year’s GITEX, which is the 37th edition. The startups include Coudiora, Nicademia, Beat Drone, Accounteer, Dropque, MTK e-Learning Portal, My Padi, Ward Monitor, Tattara and Six Internet of Things (IoT).
They are to compete with other tech startups from across the world to be able to win a $30,000 (about N10.8 million) investment towards developing their solution in a more commercially viable way.
He said, “There is a need for Nigeria to promote local technology solutions with specific reference to the 10 startups in order to truly catapult Nigeria into becoming one of the countries to be reckoned with on the global ICT
map.
“Developing our ICT ecosystem but for the indigenous IT companies and for startup by offering them an enabling environment in terms of policy and laws to operate is one of the ways Nigeria can adopt to curb annual $2 billion (N720 billion) capital
flight.”
Pantami added that the agency had come with seven agenda designed to develop Nigeria’s IT industry and curb the huge annual capital flight.
“These include promoting IT regulations in Nigeria, IT development and promotions, striking partnership on how to better secure Nigerian cyberspace, capacity building, promotion of e-government in Nigeria, showcasing indigenous tech innovations as well as looking for investors, who will assist in supporting local development of Nigeria’s IT industry,” he
said.
He also added that NITDA was working with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to ensure that the yearly estimated N37.8 billion wasted on frivolous ICT projects, is curbed through enforcing NITDA
Act.
The Act says all MDAs must get clearance from the agency for any IT project they want to embark upon, to ensure those projects are
implementable.
