Software, Nigeria's Alternative To Oil

It is no longer news that the best thing that ever happened to Nigeria was her decision to liberalize the Communications industry of her economy. The result of that decision taken a couple of years ago is everywhere for everybody to see.

The economy of the country has been enormously boosted, while businesses are springing up here and there. Even rural Nigeria is today savouring the success of this liberalization effort.

Anybody still doubting the success story in the country's Communications industry can take a look at the Energy sector where erratic power supply has become a part of the country's living.

Little wonder advocates of a greater Nigeria have not ceased from calling for a replication of the Communications magic in the Energy sector.

It is however, disturbing that the country seems not to be excited at fully exploring and tapping the economic gains that follow full liberalization.

Everything point to the fact that the country seems overwhelmed by the unprecedented success recorded in the telecommunications sub-sector and has therefore, abandoned every other sub-sector in the Communications industry.

Agreed that the use of ICT applications in the country's private and public businesses has tremendously improved arising from the level of awareness created in this sector, there is still one area that Government has not shown greater commitment and the needed political will to turn around; that is on the promotion of indigenous software.

Some experts have argued that the secret of future national development progress lies in information systems, where software is the heart and soul.

They argue that with a dismal Research, Design and Development (RD & D) platform, a nation stands the risk of not benefiting from the gains of the knowledge revolution that has transformed global landscape.

Little or no effort is made at encouraging the growth of local software as even those who attempted exhibiting their ingenuity in this area, have ended up being vendors to foreign software developers.

The Government, her policies and indeed everything seem hostile to this industry that is globally seen as a money-spinner.

Perhaps, the country's overdependence on oil could be attributed to this lack of enabling environment to grow the local software industry.

But it is certain that the country will one day run out of oil but the knowledge to invent another goldmine will remain in some of the gifted Nigerians scattered in the Diaspora.

For the umpteenth time, ICT TODAY believes strongly that the only way the country can be part of the global knowledge economy is by Government encouraging local software manufacturers by way of granting them incentives ranging from tax waiver, provision of infrastructure, to formulating policies that could grow the industry.

Countries like India, Ireland and Japan are ready references of what support for indigenous software development can do to a nation's economy.

The Federal Government of Nigeria and the relevant agencies should borrow a leaf from these countries.
Let's grow our local software; let's grow our economy.