By NIGERIAN lawmakers who are taking part at this year’s Gulf Information Technology Exhibition going on at the Dubai World Trade Centre, United Arabs Emirates (UAE) has promised to ensure tax holiday for tech start-ups in the country.
And also in the spirit of ensuring patronage for ICT products and services, the Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Dr. Isa Pantami is making efforts towards reducing e $2 billion (about N720 billion) lost by the Nigerian economy as capital flight from the importation of foreign technologies into the country.
Pantami made the disclosure yesterday during a media interaction attended by government officials across diverse agencies, IT companies, and 10 Nigerian tech start-ups said that there is a need for Nigeria to promote local technology solutions developed Nigerians with specific reference to the 10 start-ups in order to truly catapult Nigerian into becoming one of the countries to be reckoned with in on the global ICT map.
The Nigerian lawmakers said they would ensure that the start-up, who are being presented for global pitch at in Dubai have access reasonable years of tax holiday.
The start-ups at this year’s 37th GITEX include Coudiora, Nicademia, Beat Drone, Accounteer, Dropque, MTK e-Learning Portal, My Padi, Ward Monitor, Tattara and Six Internet of Things (IoT).
They are to compete with hundreds of tech start-ups from across the world to be able to win a $30,000 million (about N10.8 million) investment towards developing their solution in a more commercially viable way.
The lawmakers: Senator Abdul Fatai Buhari, Chairman, Senate Committee on ICT and Cybersecurity and his counterparts in Nigeria’s House of Representatives, Mr. Onawo Muhammed Ogoshi tour exhibition stands where solutions of Nigerian origin were displayed by the 10 start-ups.
The impressed lawmakers, who took a great deal of time, listening to the 10 start-ups to explain their tech solutions to them at the instance of Pantami, who led the tour, promised to implement tax holidays for the 10 start-ups.
“This is how Microsoft, Google, Facebook and several other of such IT companies started and as lawmakers, our mandate is to always enact laws that would support local innovations,” Senator Buhari said.
Pantami said NITDA has realised that “developing our ICT ecosystem but for the indigenous IT companies and for start-ups by offering them an enabling environment in terms of policy and laws to operate is one of the ways Nigeria can adopt to curb annual $2 billion (N720 billion) to capital flight.”
While disclosing that the agency has come with seven agenda designed to develop Nigeria’s IT industry and curb the huge annual capital flight, he said that NITDA would focus on promoting IT regulations in Nigeria, IT development and promotions, striking partnership on how to better secure Nigerian cyberspace, capacity building, promotion of e-government in Nigeria, showcasing indigenous tech innovations as well as looking for investors, who will assist in supporting local development of Nigeria’s IT industry.
He added that NITDA is working with Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to put an end to the patronage of imported technology by ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) by ensuring that they get clearance from NITDA for any IT project they want to embark upon.
According to him, about N37.8 billion is annually wasted on frivolous ICT projects when they abandon local IT companies and go abroad for their IT procurements adding that a recent screening of an IT project saved government N500 million.
Pantami said NITDA is focusing on mobilising global attention on the investment potential of Nigeria’s IT sector and promotion of local tech-entrepreneurs at this year’s GITEX 2017 at an African Investment Forum for all participants at the going GITEX on Wednesday.
This year’s GITEX, a five-day regional conference, opened on Sunday as the premier technology event in the Middle East, Asia and Africa , hosting 185, 000 visitors from more than 140 countries
Isaiah Erhiawarien, West Africa
