Business, legal and Information and
Communication Technology (ICT) experts across Nigeria and India say the
ICT industry has the potential of being Nigeria’s largest revenue
earner, noting that the development of the sector will lead to the
transformation of other sectors.
Speaking 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), Gerald Ilukwe, former CEO/managing
director at Galaxy Backbone, an ICT provider company for the Federal
Government of Nigeria, 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.
Ilukwe, who discussed the theme, ‘ICT:
Attaining Global Competitive Advantage,’ explained that a number of
factors could enhance and see the development of ICT in Nigeria. This
includes, Nigeria’s large local market, the innovation in financial
services, as well as increasing investor activity – local and foreign,
others such as the absence of skilled manpower and best practices, low
technology adoption in organisations and insufficient enabling
legislation, could be a clog in the wheel of this progress.
He said: “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 have
expanded beyond these ones.”
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.
“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 knowhow 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.
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 in the sector.
Such examples, according to him, would
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.)
He said: “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. T
“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.”
The industry experts also revealed at
the two-day event that the existing 250,000 IT and telecom professionals
in Nigeria were nowhere near meeting the actual demands of the
industry.
No comments:
Post a Comment