The
Pan-African Association of Online Technology Publishers (PATECH) has made its
debut, reports DigitalSENSE
Business News.
Addressing
media in Lagos, the Vice President of PATECH, Mr. Chukwuemeka Fred Agbata Jnr,
told DigitalSENSE
Business News that this journey started less than a year ago
after he attended a technology event in Lagos put together by three young Britons.
“I was amazed that a small business paid
as much as N650,000 ($4,000) to exhibit and attend that event, which is likely
a proof that yet another round of colonialism has already begun,” he said.
He also said that instead of complaining,
he chose instead to be a change agent and the first step was to invite fellow tech
bloggers to come together as an association, in effort at helping Africans to
tell their own stories, which include creating home grown events.
He stressed that the need for PATECH
became more evident when the Federal Government recent confiscation of some
newspaper publications and the President of Newspapers Proprietors Association
issued a statement in defense of her members, that publication was also
instructive in going ahead with this vision.
Looking ahead, he told DigitalSENSE Business
News that PATECH
sincerely hopes to serve as a link across various organisations in Africa as a
whole and believes its membership will spread fast across the length and
breadth of the continent.
“Today, we have members in Europe, Middle
East and of course Nigeria. We are currently reaching out to more Tech bloggers
and community supporters which will help make this association truly
Pan-African,” he said.
He expressed the hope that in the nearest
future the association will become a reference point for local and international
organisations seeking to make key business decisions in the technology
eco-system such as when intending to invest in a startup or trying to
understand what is happening in any of the local markets.
“PATECH will remain a welcoming,
encouraging environment for technology related businesses and even ideas. We
hope to achieve these and many more for the progress of ICT in Africa,” he told
DigitalSENSE Business
News, just as PATECH commended Communication Technology Minister, Dr. Mrs.
Omobola Johnson, saying she deserves it for her laudable strides for the sector.
By Mueenah
Abdulkareem/GEE
Pix: L-R: Barr. Chinwike Ezebube, Head, Legal & Accounts,
PATECH; Mrs. Idy Imiyoho, Lagos Zonal Officer, National Office for Technology
Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP); Prof. Pat Utomi, Founder, Centre for Values
in Leadership (CVL); and Chukwuemeka Fred Agbata Jnr., Vice President, PATECH,
at the public presentation and media briefing of the Pan-African Association of
Online Technology Publishers (PATECH) held recently in Lagos.
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