She made this disclosure at a one-day Stakeholders
roundtable hosted by her ministry in Lagos, at the weekend.
Mrs. Johnson listed the converged services expected to drive
this high growth through Value Added Services (VAS), device sales and
distribution, access provision, internet service provision, fixed wire-line
operation.
Others, she outlined are in the equipment sales and distribution sub-sector, support
services, call centre operations, software maintenance and support as well as
software development.
In the mobile network operation, Mrs. Johnson foresaw that
satellite operators would have some good chunk after the mobile operators,
followed by the growth from the fixed wireless operators in addition to
infrastructure services.
On the software sales and distribution sub-sector of the
nation’s ICT industry, the minister noted that there are substantial potential
growth expected in the software installation and customisation, while the major
growth would be witnessed in the software development and software maintenance
and support.
Equally, Mrs. Johnson said that business process outsourcing
(BPO) as well as research and development may not witness much growth potential
as they are bound to have low growth in the current dispensation.
However, on the VAS subsector, she said that converged
services led by the trio of data, voice and multi-media in addition to
transaction services and training and education stands more better growth
chances.
Mrs. Johnson further said that the nation’s ICT industry has
the capacity to generate an estimated 1.3 million jobs industry-wide.
Although most of the jobs to be created in the industry for
the expected growth, she said, have potentials to demand largely specialized
skills with some few jobs requiring little or no specialized skills.
According to her, government’s policy direction and
interventions that requires immediate priorities including harmonization of the
various disparate policies that currently govern the ICT sector and development
of a National ICT Policy.
The acceleration of the roll-out of broadband
infrastructure, namely in securing critical resources and essential facilities,
Mrs. Johnson said is another priority zone for her ministry, while she is not
forgetting the need to increase online presence of Nigerian businesses and
institutions through collaborations cum partnerships.
Additionally, her ministry would pay urgent attention to the
articulation of eGovernment and mGovernment requirements, whereas creating an
ICT Cadre in all Ministries to ensure quality and value driven ICT services,
while strengthening agencies and parastatals under the supervision of the
Ministry.
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