‘250,000 IT, telecoms professionals too small for Nigerian ICT landscape’

The 250,000 IT, telecoms professionals in Nigeria, constitute only 40 percent of the actual figure needed, and are inadequate for a market and population of over 170 million people. This was the summation of experts in business, legal and ICT sectors across Nigeria and India that gathered in Mumbai, India, at the 2015 Indian Nigerian Business Forum (INBF), organised by the law firm, Perchstone & Graeys in collaboration with the Federation of India Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), last week.

Theodora Kio-Lawson, Editor, Business Law, BusinessDay, who just came back from India, gives a brief-by-brief analysis of the events that transpired at the two-day meeting.

The event, where BusinessDay newspaper was highly represented, Gerald Ilukwe, managing director/CEO, Galaxy Backbone, an ICT provider for the Federal Government, said the Nigerian ICT industry was fast changing, and thus a new kind of partnership was required, beyond the export of offshore products and services to localised investments.

“Local demand will increasingly be met by local supply, as multinationals like Microsoft, IBM and SAP are no longer the ‘Go-To’ companies here. The market and its needs has expanded beyond these ones,” he said.

Ilukwe, who spoke on the theme, ‘Information and Communications Technology: Attaining Global Competitive Advantage,’ said a number of factor, such as Nigeria’s large local market, the innovation in financial services, as well as increasing investor activity – local and foreign, could enhance and see to the development of ICT in Nigeria. Others such as the absence of skilled manpower and best practices, low technology adoption in organisations and insufficient enabling legislation, could be clog in the wheel of this progress, he posited.

Also buttressing this point, Bismark Rewane, CEO, Financial Derivatives Company Limited, noted that recent challenges in the oil and gas sector underscored the need for Nigeria to diversify its economy, with ICT serving as the driver of this process.

To him, ICT has the potential of being Nigeria’s largest revenue earner, as the development of the ICT sector will lead to the transformation of other sectors.

“The industry, between 2012 and 2014, created over 12 million job opportunities, while attracting over $6 billion within this period. In 2016/17, Nigeria will experience a high investment in technical know-how in ICT, education, healthcare and agriculture; all of which will be thriving industries in the next couple of years with the support of multinational interests,” he said.

Speaking about the potentials of the IT industry in India, B. Gopalakrishnan, associate vice president, HCL Learning and Enterprise Solutions Limited, disclosed that in the last year, India’s IT sector contributed 8 percent to the GDP, employing more than 10 million people.

“Today, India is estimated to employ 3 million people, while indirect job creation is estimated at 8.9 million. Experts forecast that the industry will reach revenue of $300 billion in 2020,” Gopalakrishnan said.

Also agreeing with the above, Dinesh Madhavan, director, healthcare services, HCG, Enterprises, who also addressed the challenges and benefits of ICT from a healthcare perspective, informed the audience that ICT could be a great enabler for Nigeria’s healthcare sector, if advanced technology was adequately utilised.

Such examples, according to him, will include Cloud-based Virtual Health Records, on-the-go information on Immunisation, Tele-medicine (i.e. Tele-radiology, Tele-pathology, Tele-ICU, Tele-nursing, Tele-pharmacy, etc).

“Electronic Health Records, which enables easy access of data to both patient and doctor, drug alerts, emergency care – M-Health if implemented, will see shorter turn around times at the labs and hospitals.

“Telemedicine would also provide access to better healthcare quality in rural areas. There will be electronic media used to impart awareness for various ailments, vaccinations and app/internet-based doctor appointments will see patients connecting to some of the best doctors around the world, no matter what part of the world they find themselves,” Madhavan said.

Madhavan also informed participants about the Pan-African e-Network: An ICT Project between India and the African Union, in which member countries are connected through a Satellite and Fibre Optic Network. The project allows India and African states have access to and share expertise in the areas of tele-medicine, tele-education, VoIP, Resource Mapping, Meterological Services, e-governance and e-commerce activities.

According to him, the project links seven Indian and five African universities, 12 Indian and five African Super Specialty Hospitals and 53 telemedicine and tele-education centres in Africa; while aiming to benefit 10,000 students over a period of five years under certificate, graduate and post-graduate courses

At the end of the two-day event, participants established that the ICT sector, the world over, has recorded exponential growth over the last decade, and remains a veritable platform for driving national development. They however noted that as far as every economy goes, reality checks are always in order.

Speaking about the realities of the Nigerian market, Bismark Rewane made a case for the nation’s key products: oil and gas.

According to him, Nigeria’s economy is inextricably linked to the global commodity cycle.

“We must realise before anything else that Nigeria is a commodity producer. Without the foreign earnings from oil and gas, the other sectors of the economy will not thrive. Oil remains a critical source of fiscal revenues and forex earnings, ”Rewane said, noting that the performance of other economic sectors were highly influenced by the performance of the oil sector.

He, therefore, maintained, “all other sectors will be severely affected if the forex from oil is removed. Oil and gas is therefore the Heart and Muscle of the Nigerian economy.

“Commodity price decline will however give rise to local manufacturing boom, and a combination of old infrastructure and modern ICT will increase productivity.”

At the moment, labour productivity growth is now 1.8 percent compared with 3.5 percent in Malaysia, while purchasing power and investment in capital formation now at 18.5 percent. Rewane further predicted that a decline in GDP would lead to diversification of exports and economic activities.

Participants agreed that Nigeria must put in place key instruments for the success of ICT. This includes, the right policies, as well as adequate legal and regulatory framework. While there are currently a few in place, such as the Cybercrime Law (May 2015), the Office of Nigerian Content (ONC – 2014), the National Broadband Strategy (2013), the National ICT Policy (2011), Nigeria’s Cashless Policy, Financial Inclusion and the National E-Government Strategy (2014), experts believe that a lot more needs to be done to promote and secure ICT driven businesses in Nigeria.

Responding to concerns from Indian investors who expressed anxieties over the stability of Nigeria’s economy, giving the change in administration and lawmakers – with possible changes in policies, experts in finance, law and ICT from Nigeria provided them with an outlook on the economy in the coming months.

They forecasted a GDP growth rate of 4.3 percent in 2015; an increased focus to diversify away from oil with huge investments in sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing and power, while fuel subsidy will be removed and the passed PIB annulled.

Osaro Eghobamien, managing partner, Perchstone & Graeys, in his remarks, further assured the Indian business community that “the present government in Nigeria was committed to driving development through ICT and to this end, efficient ICT legislations and policies would hardly be affected by any policy changes.”

In closing, participants agreed that high-impact interventions are required to deliver national growth. Thus, the Nigerian government was advised to effectively diversify and liberalise its economic activities.