Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is no doubt recognized as the preferred and fastest growing industry with the power to actualize national visions and enrich economies. This explains why players in the ICT sector seem to take the anticipated success of the recently inaugurated Presidential Economic Team with a pinch of salt following their non-inclusion in the team. ROMMY IMAH examines the situation............
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| *President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeri |
Recent developments in Nigeria have shown that the country is not relenting in its effort at becoming one of the world’s 20 leading economies come the year, 2020. The country’s leaders strongly believe that with Nigeria’s vast population spiced with rich human and natural resources, her membership of the elite global Club 20 is guaranteed.
Even if there has been doubts before now about government’s commitment to actualising this, the recent inauguration a couple of weeks ago of the 24-man Presidential Economic Managemant Team by the president himself, Goodluck Jonathan is an attestation of government’s willingness to ensure that the country plays in the exclusive Club of 20 by the year 2020. Analysts see the team’s major task as being how to manage the country’s dwindling resources in a depressing global economy in order to achieve the most profound results for her overall development.
Vision 20:2020 as it is commonly known today in Nigeria is a grand agenda, which the federal government has adopted as the main thrust of what it is out to accomplish between 2007 and the year 2020. It is a 13-year plan of dramatic socio-economic transformation of the country. The goal of the vision is to transform the Nigerian economy to be in the league of the 20 most industrialized countries of the world. Nigeria now has nine years to make this a reality.
Nigeria’s economic potential is well recognized not only in sub-regional West Africa but the whole of the African continent. It remains the biggest economy in the West African sub-region. And given the country’s considerable resource endowment and coastal location, there is potential for strong growth.
Yet, Nigeria has realized very little of this potential. Previous efforts at planning and visioning were not sustained. The much-touted Vision 2010 was for long, in a state of suspended animation for as long as one can remember. The history of economic stagnation, declining welfare and social instability, has undermined national development for most of the past four decades.
However, the Federal Government, promoters of this new project believes that in recent years (in spite of the global economic recession), the country has been experiencing a growth turnaround and that current situation of things seems right for launching the country unto a path of sustained and rapid growth hence Vision 20:2020.
Government‘s confidence seems to be bolstered by a study conducted sometime ago by Goldman Sachs, which said that by 2025, based on their parameters for growth and development, the 20 largest economies in the world would most likely include Nigeria and the BRIC nations of Brazil, Russia, India and China. These are the countries identified by Goldman Sachs to have the potential for attaining global competitiveness based on their economic and demographic settings and the foundation for reforms already laid.
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| *Dr. Chris Uwaje, apostle of ICT-based local content growth |
Nigerian ICT professionals are worried that in spite of the very obvious relevance of information and communications technology in the overall actualization of Vision 20:2020, the Nigerian government seems not to be taking this into consideration. This worry is strongly aggravated by the glaring non-inclusion of any known ICT player in the recently inaugurated Presidential Economic Management Team.
Little wonder the composition of this team is accepted with mixed feelings by majority of Nigerians. This is why no one can blame the generality of the Nigerian population for seeing yet another case of déjà vu if the place of ICT in realizing this project is not taken into consideration especially now that the global slogan is Knowledge economy.
From $50million in 2001, Nigeria has today earned over $15billion in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) with telecommunication alone accounting for over 80% of this earning. Developments in the ICT sector have shown that FDI in this sector will continue to rise as long as the country remains Africa's largest ICT market.
Unfortunately, government appears to be paying deaf ears to this. In the key indicative parametres listed for development towards the actualization of the Vision 20:2020 project, for instance, government was silent in the area of ICT.
