ICT: Nigeria spends $2.16bn annually on foreign contents —Don

The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector spends a whopping $2.16 billion annually on tech-related foreign content, according to findings by Professor Olalekan Sakariyau, Head of Entrepreneurship and E-business, Federal University of Technology, Minna, Niger State.

Sakariyau, relying on statistics obtained from the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), canvassed measures to stem the tide.

He said: “A  breakdown of the forex spending is as follows:  capital expenditure, Capex, programme, is  $750 million, Network Software Licensing- $250  million,  Management Fees- $800  million,  Managed Services (Tier 2 and 3  Support)- $157 million,  Miscellaneous, including International circuits, roaming and terminations reconciliations, among others – $200m”.

He also lamented that 77 per cent of software in use in the country are foreign, while only 23 per cent are obtained locally.

Hardware too has 86 per cent foreign, while 14 per cent come from local companies.

The statistics also revealed that Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) in the country has a dominance of 88 per cent foreign over only 12 per cent being manufactured in Nigeria.

Sakariyau, who spoke on the topic: ‘The National Strategy for Promotion of Indigenous Contents in the Telecoms Sector’  at the Emerging Technologies Research and ICT Innovation Competition/Exhibition organised by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC),  recently,  said there was the need to intensify the promotion of digital manufacturing,  software development and research and development for digital innovation and entrepreneurship in the country.

He said a deliberate policy objective must be focused on local manufacturing of Subscriber Identity Module, (SIM) cards, smartphones, recharge cards, parts, fibre optic cables, masts, among others to shore up the deficits.

He also advocated good coordination between foreign and domestic players and voted for the promotion of indigenous languages, in developing appropriate digital literacy resources, among others.

Earlier, while unveiling the competitors, Professor Umar Danbatta, Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, said considering the enormous talents in the country, there is no reason Nigeria cannot produce what it consumes.

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