By EMEKA AGINAM
Although mulch-nationals  companies co-exist  in the country  to ensure that the  industry works to the best international standards, the Minister communications Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson, has challenged indigenous companies to set  aspirational standards for their products and services in order to remain competitive.

The Minister who stated this at the just concluded e-Nigeria conference 2013 in  her  keynote presentation  told the gathering that  with the the presentation of the guidelines on Nigerian Content Development in ICT , Nigeria has  reached a significant milestone in the journey to the target of 50% local content but noted that there was clearly still a lot of work ahead  as an industry.

“These guidelines are expected to level the playing field to facilitate the movement of many of our local ICT companies from the fringes of the market to be larger and more strategic companies while at the same time enlarging the pie so that we keep our valuable international partners interested and engaged in investing in the local industry.

“This philosophy is based on empirical evidence that demonstrates that despite the strong growth that we are witnessing today there is still a lot of value that remains to be unlocked in this sector.
It is worth emphasizing that the guidelines that are being launched today were developed with a lot of enthusiastic stakeholder participation and have been designed to be of practical help as we try to achieve the tough but very achievable target of 50% local content in the coming years.

“However, implementing these guidelines will not be without some pain. This is because we need to ensure that local providers to the ICT industry (telecommunications and IT, hardware and  software  are re-tooled, re-skilled and re-engineered to provide products and processes that will compete well with their international counterparts. The adoption of COBIT5 as our national quality standard is clearly a step in the right direction to supporting the growth and participation of local companies in this most lucrative of sectors.

“While we also ensure that the government is aware of it’s role as an early adopter and will always recommend that MDA’s buy Nigerian, particularly in terms of IT services, our providers should also be aware of the growing opportunity in the direct retail channel.
“We have a very discerning addressable market, which has shown a marked preferlasting partnerships with our local OEMs and ensure products designed in Nigeria for Nigerians are affordable and available to the market” she added.