Emma Okonji
The federal government (FG) has been urge to step up efforts to provide core Information Technology (IT) infrastructure across the country, in order to achieve its goal on the ‘Ease of Doing Business’ in the country.
Managing Director, Rack Centre, Mr. Tunde Coker, who gave the advice during an interview with THISDAY in Lagos recently, said the need to develop core IT infrastructure across the country became necessary, following the poor state of the country’s IT infrastructure, which he said was affecting fast rollout of latest technology solutions.
The dearth of IT infrastructure, he further added, is compelling owners of technology driven businesses to reinvest their revenue in IT infrastructure for the purposes of business expansion and growth.
According to Coker, for Nigeria to achieve its goal on ‘Ease of Doing Business’, the country must address its IT infrastructure challenges and set a standard for IT infrastructure development for businesses to leverage on and provide the right services that will boost the nation’s economy.
He explained that poor state of IT infrastructure in the country is affecting businesses and business interest is being diverted, as business owners are busy developing their own IT infrastructure instead of thinking of business expansion.
“We operate in a global ecosystem, but the business environment varies from country to country, depending on government understating and interest in developing IT ecosystem that is attractive to businesses. If for instance it cost my company 10 per cent to make N1 billon and it cost our counterpart company in other regions two per cent to make the same N1 billion, within the same period of time, the it clearly shows that my company is uncompetitive, even though we operate in the same global ecosystem. It then means that I have to think of doing something extra to be competitive,” Coker said.
Giving analogy of the country’s macro investment plan, Coker advised the federal and state governments to focus more on the macro business environment in order to grow the investment needed to stimulate business and grow the confidence of both local and foreign investors.
He equally advised the private sector-led businesses to continue to support government in the area of infrastructural development.
We at Rack Centre are well positioned as exporter of IT services and facilities to the sub-Saharan region, but we need a conducive macro environment to be successful in our business, Coker added.
Speaking on its Tier 111 Data Centre business operations and its contribution to grow the country’s core IT Infrastructure, Coker said Rack Centre had last year, introduced cloud on ground services, which he said would be an investment plan and a continuous journey that would enable customers host their data in the country, in areas that they can have 24/7 access to, hence we invested in cloud on ground, which is the next wave of technology.
Cloud on ground goes beyond hosting local data in Nigeria, because it was also designed to attract international players operating in Nigeria to host their data in Nigeria. Cloud on ground has made us the certified Tier 111 Data Centre Operator, providing cloud services in Nigeria. Even small companies like SMEs can host their data on our cloud facilities, Coker said.
He however said it would be the prerogative of government to host its data with any data centre operator in Nigeria, but in doing so, data centre operators must bring the cloud services that will support data hosting in Nigeria.
Government hosting its data in Nigeria will motivate private organisations who have been hosting their data abroad to have a rethink and start hosting their data in Nigeria, he added.
