Stakeholders in ICT industry gathered at this year's eNigeria Conference at Abuja, which was organized by National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) in collaboration with relevant stakeholders from private and public sector as well as non-governmental organisations. The Special Guest of Honour was Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, GCFR, President and Commander in Chief of Armed Forces, Federal Republic of Nigeria, who declared open the program. Dr. Mrs. Omobola Johnson, Honorable Minister, Ministry of Communication Technology was the Chief Host, with Mr. Peter Olu Jack, Director General, National Information Technology Development Agency, as the host. So many other dignitaries from within and outside the ICT industry graced the occasion, including Mr. Jelani Aliyu, Nigerian U.S based Automobile and Industrial Designer, Prof. Turner Isoun, Former Hon. Minister, Federal Ministry of Science and Technology and some students of Pyramid of Excellence School, Abuja.
The annual eNigeria Conference provides an actual platform for ICT awareness creation, developing appropriate framework and setting goals for best practices in order to encourage the positioning of Nigeria in the global information society. This year’s conference held from 18th to 20th November 2014 with the theme: 'Creating Market Opportunities for Indigenous ICT Products and Services'. Discussions were focused on how to empower technology start-ups and young entrepreneurs with technology tools.
The conference provided the opportunity to showcase indigenous ICT innovations for national development and allowed participants to enumerate the gains and development that Information and Communications Technology (ICT) has brought to Nigeria in the last few years. Yours truly was in attendance with some NiRA Executive Board members and staff. Apart from participating at the conference, NiRA had a booth to showcase NiRA and the .NG domain business.
Welcoming participants to the event, the Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Mr. Peter Jack, noted that "Nigeria's ICT sector has continued on the growth path contributing over 10 per cent to the nation’s growth domestic product. “In the area of job creation, reports say an average of about 12 million jobs have been created by the sector in the last two years," Jack said.
The former Minister of Science and Technology, Professor Turner Isoun, said: "Government has been on the right track in creating a veritable platform for the growth of ICT in the country." He however lamented about the poor penetration of Broadband Internet access and explained that wealth is in data as voice has been overtaken by data communication. Isoun revealed that Nigeria, through NIGCOMSAT, where he is Chairman of the Board, is currently testing the KA band transmission, which will bring Broadband access to the remote areas in Nigeria. He called on the private sector to be more positive about Nigeria and imbibe the culture of collaboration with government for the purpose of a well-rounded growth of our dear country. "The private sectors must embrace shared value, win-win and cooperate with government to create job," Isoun said.
The keynote speaker, a US based automobile and industrial designer, Mr. Jelani Aliyu, said: "Nigeria is in an interesting and very decisive moment in the nation’s history, and we must not underestimate the amazing power of human imagination." He called on Nigerians to re-awaken the humanity in them that stands them out in the comity of nations.
With particular reference to Asia, Aliyu challenged Nigerian government to strive to move the country from a consuming economy to a producing and manufacturing focused one.
The event for us at NIRA was a huge success, with many of our Board members in attendance taking part in the deliberations during and at the closing ceremony with “moi”, Mrs. Mary Uduma signing the event communique along-side the DG of NITDA, Mr. Peter Jack. The NiRA Secretariat staff were not left out of the 3 days event, our booth was busy throughout with our staff attending to participants that came from all over Nigeria. The presence of an accredited Registrar boosted the registration of some domain names at the conference.
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