Mr
Samuel Atiku, an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) expert, on
Thursday called on the Federal Government to adequately exploit the potential
of ICT to develop the youth and create more employment.
Atiku, Head of
Research, BudgiT, said in Lagos that the government could include youth-driven,
ICT-based programmes in its economic diversification agenda. BudgiT is a civic
startup that liberates budgets and public data from an inactive state into a
more engaging format, mostly through infographics and interactive application
with the aim of improving civic discussions and institutional reform. Atiku
said: “In Nigeria, about 75 per cent of the population is below the age of 40.
“It is not out of place for the government to have agenda to train about 10
million youths to become software developers within two years. “We are yet to
take full advantage of the possibilities of an ICT-driven education in Nigeria.
“In the U.S., for instance, there is a labour plan to train about three million
people to become software developers.’’ Atiku noted that ICT sector cut into
education, publishing, broadcasting, newspapering and others. “Information
communication and technology is bigger than it looks. “According to research,
the universality of ICT has made it an indispensable media for transacting
every aspect of human and material resources in the world.
“This trend of
development has provided significant changes in the lives of thousands of
youths in the developing world,’’ he told NAN. Atiku said that rapid
development in ICT in Nigeria had provided enormous job opportunities and
contributed meaningfully to national development. Atiku told NAN that the ICT
industry had immensely increased Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
According to Atiku, the ICT sector in Nigeria had in recent time provided more
employment opportunities than the country’s oil and gas sector. NAN reports that
the Nigeria Communications Commission recently said that the quarterly
contribution of the ICT sector to Nigeria’s GDP increased to N1.6 trillion from
N1.4 trillion, making the sector to be contributing nearly 10 per cent to the
GDP annually.
He added that more infrastructure should be put in place to
increase ICT’s contribution to the country’s GDP. According to Atiku,
infrastructure in the ICT sector at the moment are fragmented. He added that
universities were not teaching technology adequately, advising that the Federal
Government’s diversification agenda should be approached from an education
perspective. He told NAN that there were still issues surrounding the payment
system in the country. “If somebody wants to transfer money to you from the
U.S., for example, the process is still very rigorous.
“The government needs to
work closely with the Central Bank of Nigeria to adopt payment systems that
would allow seamless transactions,” he said.
He said that the country would
need to run an open economy to lead in ICT in Africa. Mr Jide Awe, Chairman,
Conferences Committee, Nigeria Computer Society, also told NAN that the ICT
sector had contributed significantly to the country’s GDP.
Awe said that much
employment opportunities had been created through innovation in the ICT sector.
He also said that a lot of transactions had been made seamless through the use
of ICT.
“In the financial sector, the systems of payments are more efficient;
money transfer can be done online within the comfort of your home. “One cannot
ignore the improvements in infrastructure because, now, we have internet access
which has enabled creation of applications such as financial and tech apps.
Read much more at:
No comments:
Post a Comment