- Telecom Firms, Banks, Others Spend N246bn on Foreign Software
Telecomms companies, banks, insurance companies and management services firms have spent N246bn on licensing of foreign software in six years.
Data obtained from the National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion indicated that this amount was lost as capital flight through licensing of foreign software between 2010 and 2016.
Analyses of the data also showed that the amount was spent by 60 telecom firms, 11 banks, six insurance companies and six management firms.
These companies rely on technology sourced from other countries to drive their business operations and to deliver superior performance.
The Director-General of NOTAP, Dr DanAzumi Ibrahim, said this was an indication that over 90 per cent of the Nigerian economy was supported by foreign software.
He said that NOTAP as a regulatory agency saddled with the responsibility of regulating the inflow of foreign technology into the country was sad looking at the amount of money that left the country through payment of foreign software.
The DG said as an agency of government with the responsibility of encouraging indigenous development of software, NOTAP introduced local vendor policy, whereby the foreign software developers must engage a local vendor during deployment and maintenance of the software.
He added that the policy stipulated that since software agreement lasted only for one year, 40 per cent of the yearly maintenance fee must go to a local software developer.
Ibrahim stated that the idea behind the policy was to give the local software developers the financial leverage to engage in further research in order to upgrade their inventions to meet global standards.
He further stated that some indigenous software developers had started enjoying the benefits of the policy.
Meanwhile, Ibrahim noted that intellectual property culture in the country was low while speaking recently at the inauguration of the IPTTO in Enugu State University of Science and Technology.
The DG who was represented by the Director, Consultancy Services Department in NOTAP, Mr Adamu Tandama, said for a country that aspired to be one of the leading economies in the world, Nigeria should be an exporter of technology; it should not depend on foreign technologies.
He said the establishment of IPTTO in the Nigerian universities, polytechnic and research institutions was to create awareness on the importance of intellectual property.
He added that the establishment of IPPTO in the Nigeria universities, polytechnics and research institutions would expose the researchers to over six million research results, which served as a guide to researchers in carrying out their work.
Earlier in his address, the Vice Chancellor of ESUT, Prof Luke Anike, said the inauguration of IPTTO in the institution was a dream come true.
He said a lot of research activities had been carried out in the institution but had not been presented for patenting due to inadequate knowledge.
