Worried by the huge amount, estimated at 150 billion naira, spent annually on the importation into Nigeria of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) software, stakeholders have called on the government to support local experts and operators, as a way of reversing the situation.
According to local media reports Monday, key players in the ICT sector in the commercial city of Lagos made the suggestion during the 2011 Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON) President’s Dinner.
Speakers at the forum said for the local software industry to be at par with those in developed countries, the government must help to set up a Software Development Fund and a National Commission for Software Development.
ISPON President Chris Uwaje bemoaned the neglect of the software sector by successive governments and said Nigeria was losing billions of dollars yearly to the importation of foreign software into the country.
He said the institute wanted the government to evolve sustainable policy and strategies as well as to accelerate its intervention in other critical areas.
”The strategic ways to achieve this are the creation and promotion of venture capital for the software industry and proactive incentives for the developer community,” he added
