The Minister of Communications, Barrister Abdur-Raheem
Adebayo Shittu has foreseen that proper development and deployment of
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in production processes of
products and services in the country could propel the Small and Medium Scales
(SMEs) to increase contribution above one per cent to the Gross Domestic
Product (GDP), reports ITRealms.
Shittu in a keynote address to the University of Ibadan’s
School of Business Eminent Person Business Lecture Series in Ibadan at the
weekend, lamented that despite the fact that 96 per cent of Nigerian businesses
are SMEs, compared to 53 per cent in the United States and 65 per cent in
Europe, the sector contribute approximately one per cent of Nigeria’s GDP, a
development attributable to several constraints which are not limited to lack
of funding, infrastructure and low level of productivity.
Barr. Shittu, however, was optimistic that the country could
leverage ICT to further increase productivity for it to become a critical
leader in the fourth industrial revolution as declared sometimes ago in Kigali,
Rwanda.
The Minister who in a keynote address delivered at the
University of Ibadan’s School of Business Eminent Person Business Lecture
Series in Ibadan at the weekend said ICT, more than ever, is now a leveler that
will help transform and diversify the economy. He spoke on the theme:
Maximizing The Potentials of The Telecommunications Industry For Reversing
Recession and The Economic Growth of Nigeria.
According to him, the pervasiveness of technology in terms
of transforming the way economic activity is organized, suggest that ICT and
telecoms have features of general purpose technology, adding that the digital
economy holds potential for entrepreneurs and small and medium –scale
entrepreneurs (SMEs).
”New digital tends such as cloud computing, mobile web
services, bid data, smart grid and social media, are radically changing the
business landscape, reshaping the nature of work, the boundaries of enterprises
and the responsibilities of business leaders” he said.
In addition, he said that given the immense contribution to
the growth of the economy and the fact that ICT is an enabler for all the
sectors of the economy, the present administration, will continue to explore
ways of maximizing the potentials of the telecoms and ICT, for reversing the
recession and the economic growth of Nigeria.
“Diversification of Nigeria’s economy into various sectors
is not enough to take the country out of recession, until the process is done
by leveraging on ICT in an effective and efficient manner to be driven by a
Digital Government Strategy that aims to deliver: Government Modernization,
Greater Value for Citizens and Businesses and Transparency & Open
Government.
“The country is presently in recession, but it is not
because we are in it that we are concerned. We are concerned because each time
there is a sharp drop in prices, we enter into a recession and we want to make
sure that this cycle does not continue and the only way we can do so is to
diversify the economy by leveraging on ICT and move the economy from being
resource-based, which it has been since independence”, he stressed, promising
that “the Ministry of Communications is determined to making sure that the
country break away from the cycle” the Minister said.
Revealing that the present administration under the
leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari is convinced that ICT is the bedrock
of Nigeria’s Change Agenda and development, the Minister said, having worked
assiduously on setting the proper policy
and strategic environment for the development of ICT in the country,
government is determined to expand its investments in ICT infrastructure and
extend connectivity to unserved and underserved areas.
Change, therefore, he said, would mean a specific,
deliberate and spirited reconstructive framework, for recalibrating existing
policies and institutional configurations, as well as the value that underpins
them.
Barr. Shittu promised that government will pursue policies
that incentivize investment and promote development of digital economies, so as
to be able to build an inclusive digital future for the citizenry.
In this regard, he said, attention will be paid to the issue
of multiple taxation of ICT infrastructure in addition to having ICT
infrastructure designated as Critical National Infrastructure and investment on
the capacity and harnessing the talents of the ICT savvy youth through
increased accelerators and incubators.
Uboshe Uboshe/GEE
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