By Naomi Uzor of Vanguard.
THE Federal Government, yesterday, said it is determined to leverage ICT and break its monopoly and open up the economy to foreign investors just as it did in the Telecom sector.
Minister of Communications, Barr. Adebayo Shittu, stated this at the opening ceremony of the 2017 Information Communication Technology Expo (ICTEL Expo), tagged “The Digital Economy- Strategies for Growth in a Connected World”, organized by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, LCCI.
Shittu asserted that government is now poised to attract foreign investors by removing its monopoly in the provision of certain public infrastructure.
“This government is determined to leverage ICT and break its monopoly and open up the economy to foreign investors just as it did in the Telecom sector. Despite coming up with the Economic Growth and Recovery Plan (EGRP), we are determined to actualise the content of our very comprehensive ICT roadmap.
This is imperative for the country’s highly import-dependent and consumption-driven economy. This administration has hinged the Economic Recovery Plans on ICTs as well as with fiscal and strategies policies” he said.
In her remarks, President of LCCI, Chief Nike Akande, said there is no better time to harness the benefits of ICT than now when the Nigerian economy is in dire need of diversification. “ICT is strategic in driving productivity and efficiency in all sectors of the economy. Today, virtually all sectors leverage ICT for optimal performance.
This is evident in the financial services sector, where electronic banking is now the vogue; the agricultural sector, where government allocates farm inputs through mobile phones to farmers; the consumer goods sector where online stores and e-commerce has brought an incredible transformation to retail business; the medical sciences where ICT applications are now being widely used for efficiency and many more,” she said.
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