Dr. Oby Ezekwesili

Emma Okonji

Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson and a former World Bank Vice President for Africa, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, will lead discussions at this year’s e-Nigeria conference.

The e-Nigeria is an annual conference put together by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), which brings government officials and stakeholders in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) on a single platform to chat a new course for the technology sector and the country.

Ezekwesili who completed a 4-year tenure in May last year as a World Bank Vice President for Africa, returned to Nigeria, where she is currently playing a role in engaging African leaders and governments towards the attainment and sustenance of good governance and the provision of sound policy tools and agenda for the development of the continent.

She is expected to bring her expertise in driving the focus of discussion at the e-Nigeria conference.

Johnson will use the occasion to further advance her vision of a robust Information Technology (IT) sector for Nigeria. The Director-General of NITDA Professor Cleopas Angaye will also provide added insight into discussions that will focus on examining and proffering appropriate strategies that would enhance Nigerian content in IT products and services and developing requisite framework for empowering indigenous IT entrepreneurs in order to contribute to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Products (GDP).

Executive Secretary, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, Ernest Nwapa, will speak on the topic: ‘An Overview of IT Local content Development: Issues, Paradigm and Option for Economic and Sustainable National.’

NITDA is mandated by the government to create the road map for IT development in Nigeria, and it has promised that it would use this year’s conference as part of its strategy for the attainment of the agency’s goal of making IT an integral part of Nigeria’s socio-economic development, with the hope that the conference will record a huge success in achieving the task.

The theme of this year’s e-Nigeria conference is ‘Local Content in IT Development in Nigeria’ which has been carefully chosen to key into the transformation agenda of the present administration and to discourage capital flight that are associated with importation of IT knowledge, products and services.

“It is believed that the conference will have a positive impact on our GDP growth by creating jobs for our teeming unemployed youths in the country and transform our nation to regional hub for IT products and services,” Angaye said.

He added that arrangements were ongoing to bring in foreign experts to join local professionals while IT equipment manufacturers and service providers were being invited to exhibit their products and services. Participation is expected from high level decision makers from the three tiers of government, private sector and the international community.

The three day event which is scheduled to hold from 30 October to 1st November, 2012 in Abuja, will be declared open by the President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.