By Emma Okonji
Citing the over $70 billion contribution to Gross Domestic Products (GDP) by the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector, the President of the Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Mr. Olusola Teniola, has said with technology innovation, driven by creativity, the ICT sector could contribute more to the Nigerian economy.
Teniola, who gave the assertion at the third edition of Nigeria Technology Innovation and Telecoms Awards, which held in Lagos, recently, that was organised by ATCON, in collaboration with lnstinctWave, said innovation attracts investments and the ICT sector has been very innovative and could attract more investments to the Nigerian economy.
“To drive further investment into the sector, it is believed that the adoption of creativity and innovation will automatically lead to further investment in the sector both locally and internationally. The new innovations require further investment for its continuity,” Teniola said.
He further explained that ATCON has identified ICT players that have contributed to the sector growth and decided to reward them through various categories of awards.
“ATCON used the occasion to reward individual ICT players and organisations who see innovation as a key driver of the industry in order to motivate them to do more.
“As some companies and individuals receive awards, it is our utmost belief that it would encourage innovation and creativity that would not only disrupt the Nigerian telecom sector but will impact globally. This we believe will influence further investment in the sector,” Teniola said.
According to him, “We also decided to collaborate with lnstinctWave to give the most authoritative and recognised awards to innovative and deserving individuals because our industry has contributed a lot to the Nigeria GDP, according to latest statistics from National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), which puts the contribution at l3 per cent.”
“Our thinking is that if we decide to ignore the contribution that our sector has made to the development of Nigeria by not recognising the actors that made it possible what we are saying invariably is that we are ungrateful to their concerted efforts in changing the story of our industry.
“We hope with this initiative of rewarding excellence, Nigerian government would pay more attention to our sector by removing all barriers that are militating against the growth of our industry like multiple taxation, right of way issues and lack of disbursement of forex at the official rate to our sector,” Teniola added.
ICT innovation has impacted positively on the products and services being rendered by all these organisations and ‘ATCON thought the only way to encourage further innovation in the industry is to reward those who are not resting on their oasis but striving to make a difference in the sector.
“Nigeria as a nation can only take advantage of the digital revolution that is going on in the world if more attention is given towards youth creativity,” Teniola said.
