Local PC makers gets new lease of life

... FG orders MDAs to buy made-in-Nigeria

Ben Uzor Jr, with agency reports

A wind of change is blowing in Nigeria's computer hardware market which has rekindled the hopes of local Personal Computer (PC) makers struggling to survive the stiff competition from foreign manufacturers, and prevalent business environment. The Federal Government has mandated all government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in the country to purchase computers by indigenous companies in keeping with its resolve to also promote local content in the Information Communications Technology (ICT) industry, Omobola Johnson, Minster of Communication Technology has confirmed.

Industry analysts say government is putting its money where its mouth is with the renewed push for Buy-Nigeria hoped to drive growth of local ICT industry. With the public sector seen as the biggest technology buyer in the economy at the moment, market watchers believe that it will once again throw up fresh opportunities for Nigerian PC makers like Beta Computers, Brian Technologies, Zinox Technologies, Omatek Computers, and Veda Computers, among others. Leo Stan Ekeh, Chairman, Zinox said that the new policy to patronise locally-made PCs by Federal agencies is a welcome development that will stimulate growth of the Nigerian PC assembly industry.

The CommTech Minister reiterated the government position last week while intimating participants of the eNigeria 2012 Conference in Abuja of some of the successful initiatives that the Ministry and its agencies are pursuing to improve local content development in the ICT industry. Johnson said that one of such initiatives is the launch of the Student Laptop Ownership scheme that is hinged on granting reasonably-priced loans to parents and guardians of students in tertiary institutions to purchase locally-assembled laptops.

Others include the establishment of two pilot ICT Incubation Centres at Tinapa Knowledge City, Cross River State and eLearning Centre, Lagos to encourage and nurture the development of successful ICT firms and the launch of a N2.4 billion venture capital fund specifically for ICT entrepreneurs to provide early stage financing of innovations. Under the plan, the Ministry plans to launch a one-year programme, InnovateIT, in collaboration with the banking, oil and gas industries to drive the development of indigenous software to support the needs of firms in these industries, she said.

Also, a Skills and Research Development Institute will be established by IBM in collaboration with the Digital Bridge Institute to build technical capacity and drive innovation in the ICT sector. The CommTech Minister said that the Ministry is in an ongoing discussion with the Ministry of Finance and the Budget Office to ensure that tariff reviews on imported finished goods and inputs into domestic production of ICT goods and services create a level and competitive playing field for all participants in the ICT sector.

Earlier this year, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) had announced a guideline for the purchase of Made-in-Nigeria computers by MDAs. The guideline strictly put a ban on foreign computers and technology products in public institutions and schools to encourage patronage of Made-in-Nigeria initiative and foster growth in the local ICT industry. This is in view of the huge number of hardware and software applications imported and used in the country, which have posed a considerable drain on Nigeria's foreign exchange (FOREX) according to NITDA.

The Minister’s latest confirmation reinforces the NITDA guideline, as she decries the low PC penetration in Nigeria, ranked as the lowest in Africa. She further added that the affordability and availability of the PCs and other devices and the slow pace at which ICTs were being adopted for teaching and learning in secondary and tertiary institutions were partly responsible for the low PC penetration in the country. Therefore, there was urgent need to boost domestic participation in the ICT industry by providing incentives to local hardware and software companies to increase local content.