By Emeka Aginam

AS scramble for the Nigerian market continues as a result of existing opportunities, the Minister of Communication and Technology, (CT) Mrs. Omobola Johnson has warned that activities of foreign ICT vendors must comply with local regulations to promote healthy competion.

The minister who spoke on Monday in Lagos during the Nigerian-India IT CEO high level business summit told more than 20 ICT companies from the National Association of Software and Service Companies, (NASSCOM) of India that Nigeria will not stop foreign companies foreign investors from coming to Nigeria to come and invest in our ICT industry.

She assured that she would use her new assignment to promote foreign direct investment inflows into the country’s ICT industry while stimulating local demand and engendering favourable competition among the indigenous and foreign companies operating in Nigeria.

“Nigeria will not stop foreign companies foreign investors from coming to Nigeria to come and invest in our ICT industry but what we would be doing is to ensure that the activities of those foreign companies are aligned with our ICT industry while promoting local competition,” she said.

Delegation to India

The minister also said that Nigeria would send a delegation to India for trade ideas on ICT thereby making it a symbiotic relationship.

“What we would be doing is to ensure that the activities of those foreign companies are aligned with our ICT industry while promoting local competition,” the Minister told the audience.

For the ITAN President, Dr Jimson Olufuye during his address, Nigeria’s Information and Communication Technology sector will grow the nation’s Gross Domestic Products to reach $900bn in the next nine years.

He said that ITAN was ready to represent Nigeria in the World Information Technology and Services Alliance, to collaborate with NASSCOM representing Indian, whose delegation was in Nigeria to further expand trade relationship especially in the area of ICT sector development.

“Our expectation is that such partnership between the two countries will position Nigeria as the foremost outsourcing destination in Africa in the more than $600bn market of which only about 25 per cent have been served” he said.

Also speaking, the excited Indian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr. Mashesh Sachdev said that as the leading IT outsourcing country in the world, “Indian partnership with Nigeria would go down the annals of history as a change agent to leapfrog Nigeria’s ICT industry.