By Kunle SHONUGA
Information Technology (Industry) Association of Nigeria (ITAN)has called on government and its agencies to abide by the Local Content Policy in the Information
Technology (IT) sector.
Mr Olutayo Adeniyi, the President of ITAN, made the call at a news conference on Thursday in Abuja.
ITAN is an association of over 350 Information Technology driven companies in Nigeria,
founded in 1991 to promote IT literacy and penetration in Nigeria; and to promote members’ interest
in the area of trade, public policy formulation and negotiations with government on IT policy matters.
Adeniyi said that in order to promote the growth of the IT sector, Nigeria adopted a Local Content policy “which
requires Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) making procurement for IT services to
ensure at least 30 per cent content is locally sourced.
“This will certainly make Nigerian IT companies competitive, they will grow faster and create many
jobs, thereby contributing to addressing the unemployment rate in the country.
“However, the policy is not fully implemented and therefore not producing the desired effects and outcomes.
“At the level of ITAN, we will be setting up a mechanism to monitor the implementation of the policy with a view
to advising government and possibly sanction erring establishments.”
Adeniyi also said that the association had noticed that contrary to procurement policies and the local content
of ICT procurement, government had yet to utilise accredited IT companies.
According to him, the non-utilisation of such companies makes procurement costly, creates delays in delivery and
exposes beneficiaries to sub-standard products and services in many cases and MDAs end up with solutions that do not work.
“We call on government to obtain the register of licensed IT providers from the registry of Computer Professional
Registration Councils (CPN) and patronise only those companies that are properly licensed to practice IT in the country.”
The association president added that ITAN in the past established a Public-Private Partnership Council with key government
agencies, adding that the association was committed to reinvigorating the council.
He said “the association will particularly work with government agencies like National Information Development Agency (NITDA),
National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) to achieve its goals.
“We would also work with Galaxy Backbone, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and several partners
to ensure that we have a robust engagement that can deliver dividends of economic growth through ICT to Nigerians,”
Adeniyi said.
He added that the association would continue to represent Nigeria at the level of World Information Technology and
Services Alliance (WITSA) to benefit from global policy making processes and expose the country’s IT industry to the
global community.——NAN
