SystemSpecs Urges Partnership to Grow ICT Sector

By Omolabake Fasogbon

Information Communication Technology, ICT, company, has sought for workable partnerships to improve growth and engender sector sustainability.

Executive Director of the company Deremi Atanda, proffered this at a webinar organised by the Telecommunications and Technology Sustainability Working Group (TTSWG).

The webinar which was anchored on the theme: ‘Collaborations for a Resilient ICT sector’ highlighted the gains of ICT to the national economy, which were further amplified by COVID-19 crisis, the need to sustain the growth trends.

Already, the Nigeria’s ICT market is projected to create three million jobs in the economy according to UK’s Department for Digital Culture, Media and Sport.

Atanda noted that driving collaborations through strategic planning, deliberate actions and campaigns would help to sustain achievement in the sector and attract more investments.

He further suggested some actionable steps including the embedding of sustainability in the training curriculum at various levels, a handbook that captures the history of ICT in Nigeria and documentation of top 100 ICT projects created by Nigerians in Nigeria or diaspora.

Citing the situation where 50 to 60 per cent of federal government workers were asked to work from home at the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, he noted that the company was able to support government at both federal and state levels with computers and broadband connectivity to enhance remote working.

“For telecommunications and technology businesses, partnerships between the government, commercial sector and civil society are inevitable for sustainable development”, he harped.

The webinar brought together an array of sector stakeholders who also charted path to addressing stumbling blocks to a sustainable ICT sector.

Other participants at the Webinar included: Chair, Mobile Software Solutions Ltd, Chris Uwaje; Chairperson, Legal & Regulatory Committee of Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria, ALTON, Uno Udoma-Eniang; President/CEO of HTCNWY, Wunmi Hassan and Chief Executive of CSR-in-Action, Bekeme Masade-Olowola.