NOTAP Boss urges more funding for ICT sector

The Director general of the National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP), Dr. DanAzumi Mohammed Ibrahim, has called on both government and private establishments to devote a large chunk of their budget to the development of ICT sector for socio-economic growth of the country.

Ibrahim made this submission as a panelist at a National Dialogue on Telecoms and Information Communication Technology (ICT) in Nigeria, organized by the Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) with the theme, “Harnessing the Digital Resources for the Building of our National Economy”.

A release by Raymond Onyenezi Ogbu, head, public relations unit quoted the DG NOTAP as saying that Information and Communication Technology sector had become a pioneer and dependable catalyst in addressing the needs and interests of developing countries like Nigeria and needed an improved and sustained budgetary allocation to thrive.

The DG NOTAP explained that though globally ICT has been perceived as the major ingredient for socio-economic development, powering every functional society especially the developing countries, Nigeria still depends largely on foreign ICT providers to power her economy.

He added that NOTAP as a technology regulatory agency sometimes approves some technology transfer agreements with pain, considering the huge amount of money expended by Nigerian entrepreneurs in acquiring foreign software that powers their businesses.

According to him, the world is vastly been taken over by digital economy which is powered by ICT and if Nigeria does not come to speed with the rest of the world, it will continue to be a spectator in the global technology ecosystem than a major player.

He affirmed that as a stakeholder in technology development in Nigeria, NOTAP is working closely with the knowledge institutions by establishing Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer Offices (IPTTOs) in some selected knowledge institutions.

Ibrahim stressed that the reason for establishing IPTTOs was to create awareness on the importance of investing and carrying out market and demand-driven research instead of engaging in researches for the purposes of publication and career progression.

He narrated that the IPTTOs programme started in 2006 with the establishment of six centers in collaboration with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and has since progressed both in number and capacity to 43 IPTTOs across the six geopolitical zones of the country.

Earlier in his welcome address, Olusola Teniola. President of the Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria, said ATCON was formed 27 years ago to collaborate with government in ensuring that Nigeria was not just lagging behind in digital economy but also recognized as a major player in the ICT space.

Teniola said that ICT was an enabler in execution of government programmes and that without proper utilization and deployment of ICT in running of government activities, Nigeria will continue to lag behind in the technology space, adding that ICT had turned the world into a global village and only nations that are prepared would catch up with the speed.

The ATCON president stated that the programme was aimed at charting a clear ICT roadmap that will ensure a robust commitment of both the government and industry players in development and domestication of indigenous technologies.

Representatives of State governments highlighted their positions on how Information and Communication Technology had helped in blocking some loopholes through which corrupt officials had used in defrauding the state, adding that their State governors were more prepared than ever to deploy ICT in daily running of their activities.