The National Information Development Agency of Nigeria is set to submit the draft National Software Policy to the Federal Executive Council for approval.
The Director-General, NITDA, Prof. Cleopas Angaye, disclosed this to our correspondent on Monday, saying the IT development agency received the draft policy on June 14, 2012 from the committee set up in 2010 to develop it.
The committee, which was inaugurated on December 10, 2010, according to Angaye, comprised eminent Nigerians representing various stakeholder organisations from both the public and private sectors and the civil society group, which worked rigorously to produce the final copy.
Angaye said the setting up of the committee was based on the recognition of the fact that Information and Communication Technology had been globally accepted as the major tool for sustainable socio economic development in the current global economy, adding that software development was the engine of the powerful tool.
Now that the committee had submitted the draft document, Angaye said NITDA would commence immediate action on the next stage of submission to the Federal Executive Council through the Minister for Communication Technology.
“All necessary follow up actions shall commence without delay and NITDA shall continue to collaborate with all relevant stakeholders and the international community in order to ensure appropriate positioning of the country amongst the comity of nations in the current digital age,” he said.
According to him, it is apparent that the software industry is of utmost importance to future competitiveness for economies across the globe.
Angaye said Nigeria had witnessed tremendous growth in the ICT sector in the last one decade as Internet penetration increased at an unprecedented rate of less than 200,000 regular users around 1999 to the current rate of over 40 million users.
This, he said, had positioned the country as the leader in Internet penetration on the continent, as the growth and the deployment of ICT in almost all sectors of the economy had also led to considerable investment in software both in the public and private sectors.
The NITDA boss said the development in the ICT sector reflected that there was an urgent need to develop appropriate policy to guide “Software Nigeria” in order to meet the local software requirements, diversify the economy from over-reliance on oil, and explore the knowledge economy that could provide alternative sources of revenue for the country.
Angaye commended the various efforts and attempts at developing software activities in the country, including the National Software Development Initiative, National Software Development Task Force and the National IT policy.
He said the presentation of the National Software Policy was a continuation of the efforts, adding that the current realities of national economies across the globe had necessitated the need to diversify the country’s economy and position Nigeria as a key player in the global knowledge-based and ICT-driven economy.
According to him, the process of enhancing and marketing “Software Nigeria” as an internationally acceptable brand is also important to the Federal Government’s transformation agenda.
The Director-General, NITDA, Prof. Cleopas Angaye, disclosed this to our correspondent on Monday, saying the IT development agency received the draft policy on June 14, 2012 from the committee set up in 2010 to develop it.
The committee, which was inaugurated on December 10, 2010, according to Angaye, comprised eminent Nigerians representing various stakeholder organisations from both the public and private sectors and the civil society group, which worked rigorously to produce the final copy.
Angaye said the setting up of the committee was based on the recognition of the fact that Information and Communication Technology had been globally accepted as the major tool for sustainable socio economic development in the current global economy, adding that software development was the engine of the powerful tool.
Now that the committee had submitted the draft document, Angaye said NITDA would commence immediate action on the next stage of submission to the Federal Executive Council through the Minister for Communication Technology.
“All necessary follow up actions shall commence without delay and NITDA shall continue to collaborate with all relevant stakeholders and the international community in order to ensure appropriate positioning of the country amongst the comity of nations in the current digital age,” he said.
According to him, it is apparent that the software industry is of utmost importance to future competitiveness for economies across the globe.
Angaye said Nigeria had witnessed tremendous growth in the ICT sector in the last one decade as Internet penetration increased at an unprecedented rate of less than 200,000 regular users around 1999 to the current rate of over 40 million users.
This, he said, had positioned the country as the leader in Internet penetration on the continent, as the growth and the deployment of ICT in almost all sectors of the economy had also led to considerable investment in software both in the public and private sectors.
The NITDA boss said the development in the ICT sector reflected that there was an urgent need to develop appropriate policy to guide “Software Nigeria” in order to meet the local software requirements, diversify the economy from over-reliance on oil, and explore the knowledge economy that could provide alternative sources of revenue for the country.
Angaye commended the various efforts and attempts at developing software activities in the country, including the National Software Development Initiative, National Software Development Task Force and the National IT policy.
He said the presentation of the National Software Policy was a continuation of the efforts, adding that the current realities of national economies across the globe had necessitated the need to diversify the country’s economy and position Nigeria as a key player in the global knowledge-based and ICT-driven economy.
According to him, the process of enhancing and marketing “Software Nigeria” as an internationally acceptable brand is also important to the Federal Government’s transformation agenda.
Source: The Punch
