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For
the Records |
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| DVCF
Oil & Gas Plc AGM 2008 |
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| On December
17, 2008 at the Federal Palace Hotel, Lagos, DVCF Oil & Gas Plc
held its 3rd Annual General Meeting. Below are some of the faces at
the event.... |
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| A
Computer On Every Nigerian Desk Top: Myth Or Reality?
By Leo Stan Ekeh, FNCS, OFR
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The most burning
issue of today's Nigeria is how to insulate Nigeria from the
impact of the global financial meltdown. There are frantic
brainstorming efforts to forge our reaction to what appears
to be capitalism's greatest challenge in a century.
Nigerians are meeting at different levels and today's gathering
at the MUSON Centre unconsciously forms part of the national
effort to ensure that we get our next step right. We cannot
afford to get it wrong one more time especially in the technology
front.
These times present us with a new sense of urgency, purpose,
and opportunity and it is in that spirit that I accepted to
talk today on the possibility of placing a computer on every
table in Nigeria myth or reality?
We moved that possibility from the realm of myth to reality
as far back as 9th of October, 2001, at the launch of Zinox
when we demystified
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the computer
by presenting Nigerians with the Naira keyboard.
We pulled that possibility firmly away from myth when His Excellency
Adams Oshiomole, Executive Governor of Edo State, then Comrade President
of the Nigerian Labour Congress mounted the podium at the Eko L'Meridian
to launch the Computerize Nigeria Project on 9/10/2001.
We took the proposition from myth to reality with the numerous schemes
and themes that we have devised to catalyze IT penetration in Nigeria
passing invaluable discounts and subsidies to enable the purchase
and use of the computer by governments in Nigeria, corporate Nigeria,
workers cooperatives, and the group that is openly accepted as the
common man. (Zinox put reality on the faces of many Nigerians when
we affixed a price tag of N60, 000.00 on a computer at CTO 2004; for
the first time in Nigeria!).
We showed it was and is still possible to place a computer on every
table in Nigeria when we partnered the Federal Government and other
local OEMs in the Computer for All Nigerians Initiative, a program
designed to deploy 500,000 computers in Nigeria within one year of
its launch.
However, there are policy, organizational, financial and cultural
problems that must be solved if the computer must get to every table
and play its pivotal role in a recession accelerate production, recovery
and development, and respond to the pressures of globalization.
What is the Government policy on technology acquisition and transfer?
Given our peculiar experience, we believe that Government must show
interest in the development of technology products from design, in
spite of all the talk about Government not getting involved in business.
The entrepreneur would be right to expect that the Government would
provide the give and take environment that allows for technology transfer
through diplomacy.
There is no open access to technology anywhere in the world because
of its problems for national security and stability. There is the
need for Government to work closely with manufacturers at this level.
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Besides, the private
sector is cut out for more and more profit. It is the responsibility
of regulatory authorities to insist that a computer manufacturer,
for example, sets aside a percentage of his resources for research
and development.
I know that there are those who question the rationale for research
and development when all they need to do to keep |
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shareholders happy would
be to import more finished modems from Asia. How do all these impact
on the possibility to place a computer on every Nigerian table?
I shall tell you when we talk about What Computers for Nigeria later
in this paper.
The Government policies that I expect to see in place must be all
encompassing. We were greatly encouraged in 2002 when the President
announced that Zinox should be the computer of choice for all government
Ministries and Parastatals. This directive, though thwarted by bureaucrats
who would always prefer imported products, demonstrated a willingness
to protect the Nigerian industry. Government must be a source of patronage
and a promoter of local industry as a means of developing industrial
infrastructure.
The computers would have to be produced to internationally accepted
standards before they can be deployed to every Nigerian table.
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There are problems associated
with the organization of the Nigerian market. Competitors properly
guided could also be collaborators in the building of a strong
market base.
Competitors must have a measure of shared openness in technical
and professional matters to rationalize the existence of a collective
goal.
The local market if properly galvanized would see to it that
the national interest is paramount in all areas of operation
including import tariffs.
The national goal for industrialization and development must
remain paramount at all times. |
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There is
also the problem of qualified manpower to kick start the projects
and ensure that world-class processes are maintained to achieve the
best quality standards.
I have discovered that there are often two standards of qualification
the qualification as satisfactory by the academic institutions and
the qualification as per industry standards. A well organized market
would ensure that industry needs at any point in time are well articulated
and conveyed to the academia to assist their focus.
The need for appropriately qualified manpower should cover the entire
spectrum of production from inventory to the factory hands to quality
control to marketing and distribution, and administration.
The financial problems are getting more complex by the day and again
partly require the involvement of governments. What is the lending
rate from banks to the manufacturing sector or are the manufacturers
directed to borrow only from designated banks? Would the computer
manufacturer, for example, Zinox Computers be entitled to some tax
exemptions because of the expensive trail blazing efforts of being
a pioneer?
How do we insulate the computer manufacturer from the free
fall of the Naira?
The entire production chain is agitated when the Naira loses against
the Dollar. We cannot deploy the computers on these precious Nigerian
tables if we cannot forecast and control the cost of inventory. The
market would be unable to buy the products if the pricing is unstable. |
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Are we as a people
culturally attuned to grow a Nigerian technology? Do we have
the disposition to patronize our own products? I must point
out that Nigerians are luckier than most other climes where
technology had to grow from the scratch. In the case of Zinox
Computers, we obtained all known international certifications
for quality before we started production. We had to go the whole
length in other to assuage the |
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scepticism
that would arise from a lack of self esteem among Nigerians.
The preference for foreign goods is a fad that feeds on the cultural
inferiority complex of a colonized people. We have other people
to look up to. We must take a look at China and India and copy their
models if Nigeria must emerge the black power that the world is
expecting.
That is the secret reason for our ambition place a computer on every
table in Nigeria to enable Nigerians achieve the destiny of being
the foremost black power in the world. This immediately brings me
to the question of What Computers for Nigerian Tables?
You would agree with me that there are a good number of computer
brands operating in this market today. It would not be too difficult
to fill Nigerian tables with computers if we had to order just any
computer in sight. There is as I have said earlier a national goal.
The national goal include the creating of computer manufacturing
capacities for Nigerians, the creation of millions of jobs for Nigerians,
the establishment of an industrial infrastructure on which we can
build a future Nigeria.
The Nigeria of our dreams would never be built unless we consciously
concede the computerization of Nigeria to Zinox and the other OEMs.
In the last 1 year Zinox has invested over N2.5b to increase her
capacities to deliver. This investment has given us a new head office
and a production capacity of 3million PCs per annum.
In demonstration of our closeness with the aspirations of our people
Zinox last week launched a laptop branded Zinox Bijimi, the digital
bull, with a 13-hour battery life. Zinox also recently enhanced
the chances of the PC getting into many more Nigerian homes with
the launch of Zinox Telecom, a company that significantly reduces
the cost of the Internet to the typical Nigerian. Zinox Telecom
already has multi-million Naira contracts to deploy across Nigeria.
Permit me to use this forum to thank the numerous corporate persons
who believed in Zinox and gave us a chance. To mention a few may
I thank the CBN, TotalFinaElf, Shell, SNEPCO, the NCC, Eko Hotel,
First Bank of Nigeria Plc, the Yobe State Government, the Enugu
State Government, the Lagos State Government and many tertiary institutions
too many to be listed here.
At this point I want to appreciate the presence of Engineer Ernest
Ndukwe, Executive Vice President of the NCC for finding time to
be present at this seminar. I want to appreciate him because he
represents a rare breed of Nigerians who understand the need to
grow a local technology base.
As EVC of the NCC Engr. Ndukwe has selflessly sponsored the provision
of thousands of systems to schools and established digital centres
in the 6 geo political zones. Engr. Ndukwe has brought technology
to the grassroots and the beauty of it is that he used the local
computer brands in the execution of these projects. With people
like him and with people like you and I encouraging and emulating
him, the dream to place a computer on every Nigerian table remains
a reality and not a myth.
Thank you for listening.
Being text of a paper presented
by Leo Stan Ekeh, chairman of Zinox Technologies at the Technology
Times outlook 2009
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