Business
Nigeria’s Future Lies In Indigenous Software – Expert
The Chief Executive
Officer of SystemSpecs, Mr John Obaro, says the future of Nigeria is in the use of indigenous software.
Obaro, an Information Technology expert, said this in a statement made available to newsmen in Lagos on Saturday.
He explained in the statement that Nigeria had the capacity to influence the global software technology landscape and reap the huge attendant benefits.
“This could only happen if government made a conscious effort to actualise the prosperous future that beckoned the country in software technology,” he said.
According to him, the country should quit focusing on agrarian initiatives at the basic levels, and concentrate on the potential of software technology wherein the future lies.
“To attain this, government delegations should no longer embark on foreign trade missions without the inclusion of Nigerian software entrepreneurs or products.
“The Federal Government should not receive foreign software as aids donated to the country in areas where the country had demonstrated local competence that could be polished.
‘’No longer should our young and virile technology talents be allowed to succumb to foreign exploitation, that retains them on foreign soil rather than become a blessing to their fatherland.
‘’This is the time for the country to seize advantage of the opportunities inherent in software technology, when oil prices are at their lowest.
‘’The present situation in the country may be a time of divinely orchestrated providence, expected to jolt the country from oil dependency, to harnessing the huge potentials presented by software technology,” he said.
Obaro said that the country’s currency was struggling and the naira’s exchange rate against major currencies had almost doubled in less than a year.
He expressed concern that the nation had resulted to sourcing for enormous foreign exchange to service the huge foreign-owned software assets in use by government at all levels and across the private sector.
‘’The beneficiaries are those countries that have nurtured their software industry and caused us to be dependent on them even in critical areas of our national life,’’ he added.