Experts intensify local content drive in ICT industry

Stakeholders in Nigeria’s Information and Communications Technology industry have stressed the need for the country to seriously consider the local content initiative for the ICT industry.

This is coming after the successful inauguration of an assembly plant in Ilesa, Osun State, to produce mobile phones, laptops and tablets by RLG Communications recently.

The stakeholders, who described the feat as laudable, said the country could achieve more in that regard if the local content drive for the industry was intensified.

Over the years, the economy had seen an increasing level of capital flight in the country in the area of technology business, and a lot of foreign manufacturers of phones and computers are still benefiting from the windfall.

A lot of these foreign brands, having made so much from the country selling their products, still do not have factories or assembly plants in Nigeria. Employment wise, the country is actually losing because local patronage only enhances job security in foreign lands.

To this end, the Nigeria Computer Society said it was committed to ensuring that players in the business gave priority to creating jobs in Nigeria, stressing that more firms nursing the ambition to come to Nigeria to produce, must be encouraged by the government.

The body had attributed the high cost of personal computers in the country to the weakness of the naira against other currencies of the world.

According to it, the government should work towards making the exchange rate better so that prices of locally-assembled computers or imported ones will remain competitive.

The President, NCS, Prof. David Adewumi, had said that the lackadaisical attitude of the government towards putting technological matters in the forefront, rising cases of corruption in the polity, among other issues, had contributed to worsening the situation.

He also stressed the deteriorating power supply situation in the country, saying that the government and all stakeholders needed to work together towards addressing the anomaly, as inadequate power supply had continued to pose a huge threat to local manufacturing of technological products.

“As we speak, some IT firms are going out of the country to produce. A lot of them are even moving to other West African countries. Also, a lot of government policies are not helping the situation,” he said.

According to him, there is the need for the government to get serious with the local content programme, as strict adherence to that will ensure that local computer manufacturers are well empowered to compete with foreign brands and possibly implement some price reduction schemes for customers.

The Country Director, RLG Communications, Mr. Tosin Ilesanmi, said aside making money from an economy, businesses, especially those in the ICT industry, should consider building more human capacities in markets where they are present.

He said this was critical to economic development because such moves would only create ripple effects that would continue to add value to the ecosystem and even create bigger businesses in the medium or long run.

Explaining the business model being deployed by RLG in Osun State, Ilesanmi said the firm started by training 5,000 citizens of the state in technological skills. After rigorous trainings, he said the beneficiaries were absorbed into the firm’s phone and computer arms, while some other chose to man some enterprise kiosks built by the company.

The enterprise kiosks are mobile facilities handling repairs of technological gadgets like phones and computers, and offering consultancy services to users of the devices. This initiative, the RLG boss said, would be deployed across the country in due course.

According to him, the facility, which will assemble 5,000 mobile phones, 2,500 laptops daily, was established in partnership with the Osun State Investment Company Limited, and financed by Wema Bank Plc.

He said that 90 per cent of the components of the devices would be manufactured in the state in the next five years.

Ilesanmi explained, “The relative stability of power supply in Osun was one of the attractive incentives for the company to establish in the state.

 “The facility also has a training centre, research and development lab and a corporate office building.  Also installed at the facility is a Green Technology – Biogas plant, a 150KVA generator and a 500 KVA transformer. The facility has the capacity to employ 10,000 people directly and indirectly.”

 According to the President, Nigeria Internet Group, Mr. Adebayo Banjo, with so many developments in the Nigerian ICT industry, Nigeria is set and has already joined the rest of the world in driving its economy with technology.

He described as a significant development, the move by RLG to set up a mobile phone, personal computer and liquid crystal display plant in Osun State.

He said, “This is cheery news because major foreign Original Equipment Manufacturers have consistently shunned the idea of citing assembly plants in Nigeria, blaming infrastructural deficit as a major challenge.”

In terms of local content, the Chairman, RLG, Mr. Roland Agambire, had said it was possible for technology firms to do a total “Nigerian content” in their businesses.

He said, “Everything about our products has 100 per cent local content. What most manufacturers do is to outsource some of their production line, but I promise that 100 per cent of the production contents will be sourced from Nigeria.

“Also, as part of the local content infusion in all that we would be doing in the assembly plant, we will be seeing a lot of local applications in the phones. We are looking at local contents and our Research and Development Desk is already compiling various forms of available Nigerian software applications that will run on the phones we would be manufacturing.

“We will have apps on local culture, e-commerce, e-education that are tailored to the Nigerian market. We are in the ICT world that creates local contents to solve local solutions, and that is exactly what we are doing with the RLG phones.”