Nigeria: ICT critical for economic growth

The Nigerian economy must look to the ICT sector in order to build and develop in the near future, said Signal Alliance CEO Collins Onuegbu.

According to the Daily Trust, Onuegbu believes that the telecom and software industry in Nigeria is vital to achieve a global top 20 economy.

ICT will drive Nigeria's economy

“Nigeria is a developing country while other countries are struggling, but the Nigerian economy is growing faster by 7% and one of the drivers is technology,” said Onuegbu during an interview.

“We are a growing country and there are lots of opportunities in software, telecoms and all forms of infrastructure.”

“We want to employ and grow as the economy grows,” continued Onuegbu.

“The country recognizes that we must sail on the back of ICT, especially with the coming on board of the new ministry of communications technology. It is quite good for all IT companies in the country.”

“The Nigerian government “believes in the power of IT and we understand that in Nigeria there a lot of opportunities that we can develop to push the economy forward and reduce unemployment,” said John Yussif, a ministry official.

Onuegbu is concerned over the proposed ICT Park for the country, which the government has said will help boost infrastructure and investment in the ICT sector.

“There have been lots of debates about it and my worry is that it has become a buzz word. It has been done all over the world, but I don’t see it working in Nigeria because the idea is to create clusters to develop ICT,” he said.

“It is not just about building offices and shops somewhere and calling it an ICT Park, but to build and make available every infrastructure to be supporting the business environment,” concludes Onuegbu.

David Eto