software developer and President of IT Touch Limited, Dr Damola Solanke has said information technology is paving the way for multiple industrial and digital revolution.
He noted the information, communications and technology sector is expanding, saying the industry produced 15 per cent of the country’s GDP in 2020, second only to agriculture. This maintained a five-year trend, rising at 18 per cent rate between 2016 and 2019.
“Nigeria has established itself as African continent’s largest ICT market, with 90 tech centres, with a growing and engaging client base. Over 180 million persons (72 per cent of the population) access mobile phones, and Internet penetration is to reach 65.3 per cent by 2025, up from less than two per cent in 2001. Some successful technological companies are headquartered here, including IBM, Microsoft, Google, and Cisco, Solanke noted.
According to an investigation by Jobberman, the industry will contribute $88 billion to GDP by 2027.
“However, there are impediments to growth of the industry, especially as it pertains to software development.
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Solanke said the sub-sector is still developing, as just a few individuals are actively engaged, unlike United States and India”.
He noted: “Software development is the path to making people’s lives easier, which is why technology exists.
“And, if you look at wealthy countries, they virtually generate new software to make life easier. And, despite Nigeria’s progress in software development, the previous three years have been quite quiet.
“We have not witnessed a significant increase in the new softwares. And it comes down to young people sitting down to acquire a skill and applying what they’ve learned.
“Furthermore, there is a scarcity of trained IT gurus who can educate Nigerians on developments in software. Andela, which used to be a hub of skill acquisition, closed down, and the ones left are unable to accommodate the number of young people interested, Many resort to informal methods of acquiring skills, such as computer centres and online courses,” he added.
Solanke urged decision-makers to give software development sub-sector attention.
it deserves in order to expedite Nigeria’s economic success because no country can thrive without a fully operating tech industry in all aspects.