DG Urges Open Source Software

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), says Nigerians need open source software if the the country must be a full participant in the software industry.

Prof. Cleopas Angaye, the Director-General of NITDA, made the observation at the opening ceremony of the African Conference on Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) and the Digital Commons (Idlilo-5) on Tuesday in Abuja.

The conference, with the theme “Open Source Solutions for Achieving the Millennium Development Goals’’, was organised by the Free Software and Open Foundation for Africa (FOSSFA), in collaboration with Open Source Foundation for Nigeria.

Angaye said the citizens needed to understand open software that allow people to develop their own software or search for basic programming short-code, as well as modify and redistribute it for national development.

“This is critical as we seek, as a nation, to be less dependent on oil, position our youth in the global economy and prove to the world that the Federal Republic of Nigeria is the great country of good people.

“In a country that has over 150 million, the potential of open source solution in achieving the Millennium Development Goals is huge, the manpower is present, and the infrastructure is beginning to be put in place.

“We are convinced that in the next few years, Nigeria will become a trail blazer in the production, use and promotion of open source software,’’ he said.

The Director-General stressed that NITDA was putting emphasis on the use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) for education by implementing equipment and tools in teaching and learning process.

“It is our policy not only to use ICT in education, but also wealth creation, poverty eradication and global competitiveness. We seek to empower Nigerians. We work to encourage local production.

“We want to establish and develop IT infrastructure and maximise its use nationwide. We have decided to empower the youth with it skills and equip Nigerians to participate in the software and IT development,’’ Angaye added.

He added that the NITDA is also working on ICT programmes that would help the nation to reduce the rate of poverty and boos the development of the country.

The programmes according to him include the establishment of rural information technology centres, Innovation and Incubation Centres, Software development Centres and IT Parks across the federation.

Angaye urged all participants at the conference to use the golden opportunities offered at the conference to participate in the practical programming course on open source software.

He also encouraged organisers of the programme not to make the training only one-week event, but to schedule them on a regular basis across the federation.

Also speaking at the occasion, Mrs Nnenna Nwakanma, the FOSSFA Council’s Chair Person, said the conference was to build human capacity using ICT, saying human capacity building is the only way African continent could be developed.

Nwakanma also urged African countries to give legal backing to FOSSFA in order for the association to participate and contribute its quota to their development.

“We have challenges as an organisation, the first change we need to talk about as Africans is that many of our countries do not even have the framework for recognising an African organisation, we only recognise local NGOs.

“We are no longer in a nationalised world; we are in a globalised world. We need to begin to think about how African organisations can live legally and fulfil their mission,’’ she said

Mr Ibrahim Dikko, the Managing Director, Broadband Connectivity Nigeria (BCN), disclosed that the organisation was currently upgrading its optical fibre network to gigabyte passive optic network.

Dikko also disclosed that BCN was expanding and deploying new metropolitan and long distance networks across the country for easy access to its Internet services.

He, however, urged the government and individuals to create facilities and build upon the knowledge that would be provided at the Idlelo 5 conference in Nigeria.