While the IT community awaits the national software blueprint, it may not business as usual again for local and foreign software makers as the Director of National Information Technology Development Agency, (NITDA) has said that the policy, when fully implemented would set standards for software acquisition and importation in the Nigerian market which has so far remained the exclusive preserve of foreign vendors.
The National Information Technology Development Agency is the clearing house for IT projects in the public sector. The NITDA DG who spoke last week in Lagos at the 3rd phase of ICT4D workshop said that the policy is expected to protect local developers in the country whose products lack local patronage because of preference for foreign one.
With the commitment of regulatory agency in building local software, Professor Angaye disclosed that NITDA, under the current financial year was trying to set up centres where Nigerian local software can be tested to international standards, adding that NITDA had completed a NIS analysis for IT parks and software centers.
He said that this is expected to boast the economy by producing practitioners, adding that youths can have the opportunity of doing web analysis for job creation.
“We had early in the year set up a committee to come up with a software policy. The committee will make available a draft policy. The policy will eventually set the pace for software acquisition and importation. We need to protect the local market, that is our resolve,” Angaye said, adding that it was time local developers retool for global competitiveness.
Local software must be tested to global standards
The NITDA boss said that it is when software developed in the country have been tested for quality, using global standards that they can get local patronage.
“It is going to be world class software testing centre where the quality of any software developed in the country will be evaluated. Majority of local software applications have not been tested. That is the only way that they get local patronage”.
There is need to set up appropriate mechanism for quality assurance and global standard for testing and certification of software developed in Nigeria.
The fundamental nature of the testing is to help indigenous software developers attain products that will meet international standards, thereby becoming globally competitive.
There is need to regulate the development of software and hardware for effective services. There has been a lot of scam messages from Nigeria, stressing the need to monitor the networks so as to identify the Internet Protocols (IP) where such messages were coming from. The government is providing a enabling environment for local software makers.
The government is ready to support local software makers but these products need to be authenticated by appropriate authority. That is the apparent truth,” Angaye said.
Meanwhile, Chairman, National Software Policy Committee, (NSPC) Prof. Wole Akinyokun hard earlier told participants at the Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria roundtable that Nigeria must work hard to develop its indigenous talents for the challenges ahead, adding that Nigeria cannot afford to miss out in this critical assignment of software engineering for job creation.
“What is the future of Nigeria without indigenous software? Software is the centre of gravity of human existence. We must leverage on the opportunities available in the local software application for job creation,” he said. “ It is a resource that must be tapped to building our economy and provide jobs for our ever growing unemployment rate,” he said.
The National Information Technology Development Agency is the clearing house for IT projects in the public sector. The NITDA DG who spoke last week in Lagos at the 3rd phase of ICT4D workshop said that the policy is expected to protect local developers in the country whose products lack local patronage because of preference for foreign one.
With the commitment of regulatory agency in building local software, Professor Angaye disclosed that NITDA, under the current financial year was trying to set up centres where Nigerian local software can be tested to international standards, adding that NITDA had completed a NIS analysis for IT parks and software centers.
He said that this is expected to boast the economy by producing practitioners, adding that youths can have the opportunity of doing web analysis for job creation.
“We had early in the year set up a committee to come up with a software policy. The committee will make available a draft policy. The policy will eventually set the pace for software acquisition and importation. We need to protect the local market, that is our resolve,” Angaye said, adding that it was time local developers retool for global competitiveness.
Local software must be tested to global standards
The NITDA boss said that it is when software developed in the country have been tested for quality, using global standards that they can get local patronage.
“It is going to be world class software testing centre where the quality of any software developed in the country will be evaluated. Majority of local software applications have not been tested. That is the only way that they get local patronage”.
There is need to set up appropriate mechanism for quality assurance and global standard for testing and certification of software developed in Nigeria.
The fundamental nature of the testing is to help indigenous software developers attain products that will meet international standards, thereby becoming globally competitive.
There is need to regulate the development of software and hardware for effective services. There has been a lot of scam messages from Nigeria, stressing the need to monitor the networks so as to identify the Internet Protocols (IP) where such messages were coming from. The government is providing a enabling environment for local software makers.
The government is ready to support local software makers but these products need to be authenticated by appropriate authority. That is the apparent truth,” Angaye said.
Meanwhile, Chairman, National Software Policy Committee, (NSPC) Prof. Wole Akinyokun hard earlier told participants at the Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria roundtable that Nigeria must work hard to develop its indigenous talents for the challenges ahead, adding that Nigeria cannot afford to miss out in this critical assignment of software engineering for job creation.
“What is the future of Nigeria without indigenous software? Software is the centre of gravity of human existence. We must leverage on the opportunities available in the local software application for job creation,” he said. “ It is a resource that must be tapped to building our economy and provide jobs for our ever growing unemployment rate,” he said.
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