Ending Economic Recession Via Technological Dev

As a part of efforts of the Federal Government at resolving the economic recession, President Muhammadu Buhari promised to develop the nation’s digital platforms to promote modernised business activities in the country.
“We will do this through increased spending on critical information technology infrastructure and also by promoting policies that facilitate investments in this vital sector.
“Let it not be lost on anyone that the true drivers of our economic future will be the farmers, small and medium sized manufacturers, agro-allied businesses, dressmakers, entertainers and technology start-ups.
“They are the engine of our imminent economic recovery and their needs underpin the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan,’’ the president said while presenting the 2017 Budget.
Economists have commended the initiative of the presidency, observing that such decision would enhance productivity and competitiveness.
In this regard, Minister of Communications Abdur-Raheem Shittu, urged stakeholders in the Information Communication Technology (ICT) to do more in promoting and growing national economy.
“Governments, non-governmental organisations and stakeholders need to do more in promoting that effectively shows new dimensions to old institutional arrangement.
“It is in view of boundless opportunities ICT offers that the ministry has made concerted efforts to collaborate with the organised private sector to further provide the opportunity of exploring the unbelievable potential of ICT.
“The success of the Sustainable Development Goals is hinged on inclusiveness predicted on ICT for all.
“The need to engage the youth, therefore, is imperative. We are still in a recession, but I believe we will soon come out of it better, stronger, wiser if we leverage on ICT,’’ Shittu said.
The minister said ICT had become big business globally, noting that all nations ought to develop it for socio-economic development.
According to him, many things today are done and accomplished by ICT and the world has become stronger and more at home with a click of a computer mouse or a tap on the keyboard.
He said there were many employment opportunities to be explored if attention would be placed on ICT by involving the youth.
In his contribution to a programme organised by a new social media platform, Talk Stuff, in Abuja recently, Shittu said: “I am convinced that this platform will appeal to users, provide value for its users as well as contribute to the economic growth of the industry by empowering every individual on the platform.
“I also hope it will ensure that business reach far and wide as well as their target market without frills and at a minimal cost acceptable to Nigerians.
“This event represents a new vista in our collective drive to evolve a workable synergy and position the ICT for inclusiveness.’’
Earlier, the founder of TalkStuff Nigeria Ltd., Mrs Racheal Ogbonna, described the platform as user-friendly.
To boost ICT knowledge, the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS), nonetheless, urged the Federal Government to deepen efforts advancing application of ICT in the key sectors of the nation’s economy.
Mr Ayodeji Abitogun, the chairman of the society in Abuja, said the nation needed to key to technology to solve economic recession.
“ICT has a role to play. ICT is about accountability, transparency, efficiency, blockage of leakages.
“When you automate your process everything becomes clear; you do not need to exchange money; so technology fights corruption on its own as it has been proven to work for Treasury Single Account system.
“We can use information technology to secure the nation in the area of cyber security to fight against cyber-crime, corruption in government and to develop business in the private sector.
“For the people in academia, we are talking about how we can use ICT to promote learning and research development.
“We are taking IT away from the commercial sector to the public to tell people that you must embrace ICT if we must promote development.
“We need to go down to the rural areas where we need to reach the people and introduce them to the use and right application of computer.
“Let them see the usefulness in these various technology tools that are available to develop various skills in hardware and software programming in order to secure a better future for the country,’’ he said.
He said NCS was ready to establish a synergy among various people from different sectors representing various interest groups on how to be ICT-compliant.
“ICT is necessary for every sector of nation’s economy, with Bank Verification Number; multiplicity of accounts can be trapped and traced.
“We should not forget that today, India and China generate money from ICT more than what Nigeria generates from oil,’’ Abitogun observed.
Agbeja is of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

Gabriel Agbeja