IT Professionals Task Government on Local Manufacture of Computers
Story Filed: Thursday, January 18, 2001 10:39 AM EST
Lagos (This Day, January 18, 2001) - Information Technology (IT) professionals have called on the government to introduce policies
that will encourage local production of computers in the country.
The experts told THISDAY that this will go a long way in preparing the country and its citizens for the e-commerce revolution in the
world today.
The General Manager of Wiz-Tech Limited, Mr. Patrick Onajite, told our correspondent that favourable government policies will go a
long way to boost the computer industry in Nigeria. Onajaite was of the view that drastic reduction of import duties and other taxes
such as VAT, has become necessary to reduce the prices of computer products, making it affordable to the generality of Nigerians.
"With good policies, just like what the Indian government has done in its country by encouraging local software production, systems
can easily be affordable and the interest will be aroused, instead of making it an elitist affair", he said..
Onajite also suggested that Government should create a liberal economy to attract foreign investors going into partnership with our
Nigerian counterparts in Computer part manufacturing.
Computer giant industries such as IBM, Compaq, Dell etc, he said are likely to take advantage of this by setting up factories for the
production of computer accessories such as the casing, mother board, mouse etc.
Onajite, also pointed out the vital role NEPA and NITEL ought to be playing in the present dispensation, to facilitate the growth of the
computer industry.
He said that the performance of these two federal parastatals has fallen short of expectation, adding that this has adversely affected
the industry.
"For the computer industry to be alive to its responsibility, there is need to have constant power supply and more phone lines made
readily available for Nigerians; to access the Internet. We are all aware that without electricity, the system can not be powered.", he
said.
He also added that the Federal Government should make it a deliberate policy to place more emphasis on Science and Technology
in Nigeria, especially computer education, right from the primary to the university level.
Another top IT professional with Gold-Rim Investment Limited, Mr.
Odediran corroborated the views of Onajite of Wiz-Tech Ltd about the Federal Government's policy on Science and Technology,
adding that there should be more computer awareness education in the country. This, he said, will make it possible for many
Nigerians to become computer literate.
"Government should make computers readily available to students in the institution of higher learning, as it makes mockery of
science and technology education, where a student studying computer science do not have access to a PC for his practical work
through out his four year programme.", he said.
Odediran, also supported the idea of local production and assemblage of computer parts, as this will make marketers to be less
dependent on the foreign computers.
He was of the opinion that Private Telecommunication Operators should be empowered to operate on broad band cabling, so that
they can transmit more volume of data, voice video and fax, and provide other service at moderate price can be affordable.
When ask about his vision of the industry in five to ten years time, he was very optimistic that there will be a rapid growth of the
industry, where more Nigerians will have access to the PC, and expect the prices to fall drastically then.
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