By Monsur Olowoopejo

Ahead of the general elections in the country, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, LCCI, weekend, urged business operators not to express any worry over the effect of the elections on the country’s economy. Vice President and Chairman of Trade Promotion Board of LCCI, Dr. Michael Olawale-Cole gave the assurance at the unveiling ceremony of the 2015 Information Communication Technology and Telecommunication, ICTEL EXPO, held at the LCCI conference and exhibition centre, Lagos.

Olawale-Cole said “Don’t be disturbed by the upcoming elections, it will come and go. And the country will remain one. We have experienced worse things than this and the country remained united. We need to have faith in this country.” He asked that business operators should continue their daily activities, saying that they will not experience any electoral violence before, during and after the elections.

The Vice President stated that one activity that business operators should dwell more on how best they could use internet to promote their activities.

Conventional style

He said, “In the coming decade, businesses will only be completely done online and not the conventional style. Thus, it is important for business operators to embrace it now.” On the need to embrace ICT, the President of LCCI, Alhaji Remi Bello, said that there had not been effective link between the users and producers of ICT in the country, saying “This is the primary objective of this EXPO; to provide platform for producers and users of ICT in the country.”

The aftermath of the mobile phone penetration was the boom in internet service demand in the country. The fact that it was now easy to access the World Wide Web through the mobile handsets resulted into an unprecedented boom. And today 73 million subscribers use their telephone to connect the internet, a number greater than the entire population of some countries.”