Nigeria spends over $1 billion annually to import foreign software, the Managing Director of MainOne Cable Company, Funke Opeke has said, citing the National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP). Opeke, who delivered a lead paper at the Emerging Technologies and Innovations Forum organised by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), said many start-ups outsource software development to other parts of the world.
“You only have to do business with multinationals in Nigeria to recognize that a lot of the works that power these companies are fuelled offshore. That implies they make money in Nigeria but do not contribute jobs here,” she said. She said government can stimulate growth in the tech ecosystem and impact on innovation hubs by providing the necessary infrastructure, power, broadband infrastructure and good road network, among others.
