Expert Harps On Local Content Policy In ICT

An Information Technology expert, Dr Emmanuel Ekuwem, on Tuesday urged the Federal Government to promote the local content policy in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector.

Ekuwem, former President, Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), told newsmen in Lagos that this would enable the country to actualise her Vision 20: 2020.

According to him, promoting local content would enable the country to be among the 20 most developed countries of the world.

He said that the policy would promote direct investment in the ICT manufacturing and assembling, adding that it would also create jobs for the teeming Nigerian youths.

The former ATCON president said that the country needed an ICT content policy like the downstream sector of petroleum industry.

“Why are we still importing virtually everything we use in Nigeria?

“Do you know that we are still spending huge amount of money on the importation of software applications, and pieces of hardware being used by the government agencies?” he said.

Ekuwem said that education, health and agriculture were the areas where ICT could boost productivity and thereby increase the country’s foreign reserves.