By Emeka Aginam
The Nigerian local personal computers (PCs) whose market is shrinking by the day as a result of demand for foreign brands, are expected to benefit from IT intervention currently being pushed by the Nigerian Computer Society (NCS).

It would be recalled that the four local PCs approved by the Federal Government during Obansanjo’s era are not limited to Beta Computers, Brian Integrated Systems, Zinox and Omateck Computers.

Although the actual amount of fund being requested by the NCS from the First Bank for the initiative was not disclosed as at Press time, the President of NCS, Mr. Demola Aladekomo who disclosed this last week in Lagos during a courtesy visit to First Bank’s Corporate Head Office noted with optimism that the IT intervention fund if fully implemented, would among other things create at least one million IT-related jobs in the next five years.

He told the First Bank management that a well articulated and financially supported policy on assembly and manufacturing of hardware with incentives not just for local consumption but also for export, accelerated development of capacity for software design and publishing and partnerships with governments to develop business processing, large scale modern call centres, knowledge/incubation parks can create not just millions of jobs for Nigerians but contribute to the nation’s  GDP that may rival oil as had happened in other countries.

Aladekomo who said that  the  fund would put  more people to work than three or four different sectors of the economy combined, noted that the intervention fund is also targeted towards supporting their members involved with PC manufacturing for public PC acquisition programmes.

“Specifically, we seek to work with you to create an intervention fund targeted towards supporting our members involved with PC manufacturing for public PC acquisition programmes, LPO financing, capacity development and the other programmes mentioned above. If you approve of this initiative, we shall work with you to put in place the modalities of execution and ensuring its success,” he said.

What is required, according to him, is leadership and partnership with NCS in this critical area that may spell doom for our country if not urgently tackled.

Employment and intervention funding:

Regarding employment and intervention funding, he said: “We make bold to say that if fully utilised, the IT industry could put more people to work than a combination of three or four different sectors of the economy could do.

“NCS intends working with the Federal Government towards creating, conservatively, one million IT-related jobs within the next five years. Key areas of focus towards achieving this goal are: Business Process Automation, Call Centre Operation, Health Care Delivery, Emergency and Disaster Response Systems, Software Development, Incubation and Knowledge Park development to mention a few.”

According to him, the IT intervention fund is an initiative of NCS driven by national development challenges and socio-economic developmental priorities.

“It is proposed by NCS to accelerate IT development in Nigeria in view of the increasing relevance of IT in facilitating sustainable development and overall prosperity which aligns with the goals of the Ministry of Communication Technology.

Again, the details and modalities will depend on further discussions with the bank and other stakeholders” he explained.