Nigeria lost over N1.2 trillion to the importation of Information and Communication Technology goods and services in 2017, a source at the National Information and Technology Development Agency has revealed.
The top source, who craved anonymity, revealed that most of the expenses made by government agencies and private organisations were spent on the importation of hardware and software products and services.
The development could be attributed to the digital transition witnessed by the Nigerian economy, which is evident from the sheer volume of online financial transactions in the country that stood at over N56 trillion in 2016, and 204 percent increase in Internet transactions between 2014 and 2017 – from N5.41 billion to N16.45 billion, he informed.
However, stakeholders in industry lamented over what they described as foreign domination, which they stridently urged the government to tackle before it gets out of hand.
The former chairman, Nigeria Computer Society, Mr. Aderogba Adeoye, demanded that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration must look critically into the issue of local content development “before the indigenous firms lose the battle.”
According to him, the nations should not remain a consuming nation, but productive and should export its products and services to other countries.
Adeoye said, “Nigeria should not be a dumping ground for all forms of technologies. Nigerians are good intellectually; we can also export our inventions and innovations abroad, but government factor is key in .achieving this objective.
“The main purpose of the local content initiative and the guidelines is to ensure that the Nigerian ICT companies are able to significantly participate at all rungs of the ICT value chain to create jobs, wealth and knowledge locally.”
He added that over 80 per cent of the Nigerian IT market has been overrun by foreign firms, leaving about 20 per cent to some indigenous players.
Another IT expert, Mr. Segun Mustapha, said that multinational gadgets manufacturers like Dell, Apple, HP, Huawei, Motorola, Samsung, and Acer, among others, have taken control of the market, leaving only 20 per cent to their local
counterparts.
He said, “Over five million found their ways to the Nigerian market every month. The development bleeds the Nigerian economy as it loses huge revenue in capital flight, owing to the importation of products. Our dear nation remains a dumping ground for all forms of devices, both the good and the fake
ones.”
