The National Software Policy Committee (NSPC) has presented the National Software Policy (NSP) for Nigeria to the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA).
During the formal presentation in Abuja, the Chairman of the committee, Prof. Oluwole Akinyokun said that the NSP was to provide the blueprint for a roadmap that will make Nigeria a competitive country in the area of software engineering and development.
He said: “It was imperative that Nigeria develops a software policy and a strategic plan for its implementation in order to align software resources as a critical asset to national goals and aspirations.”
Akinyokun said that on inauguration, the terms of reference the committee amongst others would include: to design appropriate strategies for national software research and development; establish strategies for promoting local demand for software products and services; develop guidelines that ensure the promotion of local software; ensure that the NSP establishes software development and services as a major vehicle in creating national revenue with direct significant impact on the Nigerian economy; provide incentive mechanisms for Nigerian software developers and investors, and to establish modalities and technical guidelines for registering, testing and documenting imported/domestic software products/services and mechanism for operational standards and security for the country.
He further said that the committee was tasked with the responsibility to implement a roadmap for ensuring easy access of Nigerian software products, services and skills in the international market.
The chairman posited that part of the mission of the committee was to promote software as one of the topmost critical national information infrastructure (CNII) for the growth of Nigerian economy and to also establish national software infrastructure to carter for the needs of public administration, trade, commerce, industry, finance, entertainment, media, education, culture, sports and tourism, peace, security and stability.
He posited that the focal areas captured in the NSP are software human capital, software infrastructure, software fiscal policy, software industry economics, software legislative, regulatory and institutional frameworks, software and national development strategy and software research, innovation and development.
He further reiterated the contributions of software to national economies in the current world driven by IT and the need for Nigeria to be part of the global trend.
He said: “Information services, products and production processes are evolving rapidly. Knowledge engineering is replacing pure data and information oriented engineering.
The application and impact of IT is so pervasive that it is affecting issues as diverse as government operations, balance of payment, skills development, design competence, mass media reach, industrial competitiveness, publication, communication, transportation, health, banking and finance, industrial productivity and managerial efficiency.”
In his acceptance speech, the Director General, NITDA, Prof. Cleopas Angaye, said that the committee was inaugurated on the recognition of the fact that Nigeria has tremendous growth in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector in the last decade.
He said: “ICT has been globally accepted as the major tool for sustainable socio economic development in the current global economy and software development is the engine of this powerful tool.
“In the case of Nigeria, the country has witnessed tremendous growth in the ICT sector in the last decade; for instance, internet penetration has increased at an unprecedented rate of over forty million users. This has positioned Nigeria as the leader in the internet penetration statistics in the continent.
“This growth and the deployment of ICT in almost all sectors of the economy has led to considerable investment in software both in the public and private sector.”
According to him, “The foregoing has therefore laid credence to the fact that there is an urgent need to develop appropriate policy to guide on “Software Nigeria” in order to meet our local software requirements, diversify our economy from a mono economy mainly based on oil and explore the knowledge economy that can provide alternative source of revenue for the country.”
Angaye assured that the agency shall commence immediate action on the next stage of submitting to the Minister of Communication Technology for onward submission to the Federal Executive Council (FEC).