When the Ministry of Communications Technology was created in 2011, Nigerians were told to expect a breakthrough in the industry soon. STANLEY OPARA examines developments so far.
The defining moment for the Information and Communications Technology industry in Nigeria has been put at 2013 and part of 2014, given the level of investment in the industry and flurry of activities in recent times.
The Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson, made the projection in Lagos at the unveiling of the ministry’s MicroWork and E-Lancing job creation scheme, saying that late 2011 into 2012 were periods of planning and strategising for the ministry.
“I think 2013 is our watershed year. I was sworn in July 2011. It was a new ministry without budgets for a number of months. What you are seeing now are the logistics of 2011 that are coming to fore,” she said.
Recalling the unveiling of many initiatives, including the student computer ownership and tech launch pad, she said there were plans to unveil a service portal, adding, “I think it is now that we can begin to evaluate what we have done.
So, by the end of this year, we want to see improved quality of service; access to broadband will also improve. We want to also ensure that we are creating more jobs through ICT. We want to also be able to tell people to know that it is easier to transact business with the government.
“I think by the end of this year, we shall be able to talk more about the benefits of our initiatives. What we were doing initially was actually very encouraging, especially the Student Personal Computer Ownership Scheme. We have been getting favourable responses. For the industry, I think 2013 and 2014 are the watershed for the ICT industry.”
Commenting on the MicroWork and E-Lancing initiative, Johnson said the ministry had recognised that the ICT was the fastest growing sector of the Nigerian economy which is currently growing at 30 per cent and has maintained that for the past five years.
The belief of the ministry, she noted, was that the country could leverage ICTs for improved productivity; hence, the partnership with the Science and Technology Education Post-Basic (STEP-B) World Bank for job creation in Nigeria. The STEP-B project is targeted at improving science and technology education in the country.
She placed the total amount for the project at about $180m, saying the project included what the ministry was doing with the National University Commission on fibre-optic laying across Nigerian institutions in the country.
The minister explained, “The project is going live in Lagos and Abuja, but that of Kano will be on soonest. We have about seven sessions that will still come up, because it is going to be gradual. Our hope is that every individual that registered on this platform will actually begin to get work and get money.
‘‘So this is something that you can see the result immediately. However, to earn more money depends on the individual, how well he or she was able to handle the work given and improve his or her profile.”
The initiative, which is coming with great opportunities, is expected to create jobs, though without actually creating a company. By its model, participants can sit at home with a PC and Internet connection and transact legitimate businesses that will rub off well on them and the economy at large.
Aside Kano, the nationwide programme, according to Johnson, will soon be extended to other states like Yobe and Osun.
“There are arrangements to ensure a seamless process, which is the reason why it took us about six months to get started. We have local payment switches. We are partnering with Interswitch on that so that people can get paid in Nigeria. PayPal is not part of this programme,” she explained.
The programme, which has over 900 participants, will be training about 900 people every session. It is open to participants who can speak English, use a computer, and have undergone the registration process.
Johnson added, “We can’t really say we are targeting a particular number of people, even after five years. But our target is to create that awareness of the opportunities that are available in the sector. We will, as part of this programme, continue to train more people in their thousands. This is an initiative we believe will have a life of its own as we progress in it.
“All that is required is for the person to register on the platform. I can say we have a target now, but I believe that our aim is to reach people in their thousands. The beauty of this initiative is that the participants only need the present training we are giving them now. All that is required, like I said earlier, is for such participants to understand what is involved, register and get the training, and then, such a person can go home, become a micro worker and earn money.
“This initiative is happening all over the world on a large scale, but we are starting in Nigeria on a gradual basis so that we can really achieve something, especially in bridging the unemployment gap in the country.”
According to the minister, broadband has a lot to do with the Microwork scheme, as the global platform by which people will access the initiative is the Internet.
There is a serious correlation between them, she said, adding that the move was actually part of the industry’s local content development initiative aimed at ensuring that more Nigerians made money from the ICT sector.
In the same vein, the Director-General, National Information Technology Development Agency, Prof. Cleopas Angaye, said trainings in ICTs would expose Nigerian youths to endless employment opportunities.
He said ICT provided a veritable tool for tackling poverty, creating borderless employment opportunities, positioning for global competiveness as well as for generating wealth.
Angaye noted that globally, ICT had produced some of the richest entrepreneurs in their youths such as Bill Gates, Michael Dell, Carlos Helu, Larry Page, Mark Zuckerberg and Sergey Brin, adding that the nation’s youthful population could benefit immensely from ICT entrepreneurship.
He said, “Nigeria has the eighth largest youth population in the world. The country has about 45 million youths, which constitute about 30 per cent of the total population of the country. This is obviously higher than the global average of 18 per cent.
“In Nigeria where the unemployment rate is currently at 19.7 per cent and over 72 per cent live below the poverty line, it is obvious that the impact of this is felt by youths, who constitute a higher percentage of the total population in the country.
“There is, therefore, the need to put in place appropriate measures to effectively empower and engage our youths to be responsible to self and the nation. A ready tool for youth empowerment is information technology.”
The NITDA boss said in implementing the Nigerian IT policy, the organisation had adopted a three-pronged approach to human capital development, infrastructural capacity development and institutional capacity development.
The Chairman, Teledom Group, Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem, condemned the situation whereby many Nigerian youths roamed the streets without quality education, jobs, counselling and mentoring channels, and without skills to fit into any technical work space.
“Many take the Joint Universities Matriculation Examination yearly but very few are admitted, while a vast majority continue to roam the streets in despair. Of those who graduate from universities and polytechnics yearly, a very large number are unemployed due to the lack of jobs and/or are not employable,” he said.
Ekuwem, a former President, Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria, said since the unemployed youths had little to give back to the society, they “hit back at the society as restive, militants, area boys/girls.”
Welcoming the job creation drive of the minister, he urged the government to develop the right policies that would take the youth off the street.
Ekwuem said, “ICT can take them off the streets by providing knowledge and skills to give them hope and dream and make them alive and alert. This can be achieved through massive investments in broadband infrastructure roll-out to every city, town and village in Nigeria and pumping through, in ubiquitous availability, an affordable broadband Internet.
“This will positively impact on the quantity and quality of teachers and students as well as boost the quality of teaching and learning. Can you imagine what can happen to the national economy with a generation of highly skilled young men and women who are knowledgeable, who are skilled, and who dream dreams, who create jobs and who compete to add value to their lives and those of others?”