WITH the global recognition placed on software development as a catalyst for economic growth, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has stressed the need for the country to have a national policy to drive software development in the country.Specifically, it was noted that a robust software policy laid credence to the fact that there is an urgent need to develop appropriate strategy to guide software development in Nigeria in order to diversify the economy from a mono economy mainly based on oil and explore the knowledge economy that can provide alternative source of revenue for the country.Speaking in Lagos at the weekend at the 'Stakeholders Workshop on the Review of the Draft National Software Policy, ' the Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson noted that it has become highly imperative for Nigeria to have a national software policy to be able to drive its local content initiative and have direction for development.Johnson, who was represented by her Special Assistant on Information Technology, Mr. Ola Oguneye, said though software development in the country is critical, but that without a policy to bring together the different units, nothing would be harmonised.'We have discovered that young people are interested in software development in Nigeria, but without us formulating a sustainable policy on that, we have no where to go. The policy after finalisation should be able to give us direction as a country', she stated.In his opening remarks, Director General, NITDA, Prof. Cleopas Angaye, said a robust software policy was essential for Nigeria to effectively participate in the global economy.He noted that the software industry was of utmost importance to future competitiveness for economies across the globe, especially with its halo effect in creating related business opportunities.According to him, there was need to develop a robust software policy in the country, with appropriate implementation strategies to implement it.''Nigeria has witnessed tremendous growth in the ICT sector and Internet penetration has increased at an unprecedented rate. This has positioned Nigeria as the leader in Internet penetration statistics on the continent.''This growth and deployment of ICT in almost all sectors of the economy has led to considerable investment in software both in the public and private sectors.''It is, however, disheartening to observe that these investments have been mostly on imported software,'' the DG said.According to him, a recent disclosure by the National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP) showed that Nigeria losses about $1billion yearly to software importation.Angaye said that the Nigerian software industry is potentially worth $6billion and can surpass the contributions from the oil industry.''The foregoing therefore lay credence to the fact that there is an urgent need to develop appropriate policy to guide software Nigeria in order to diversify our economy from a mono economy,'' he said.The NITDA DG said that it was for this reason that the Agency inaugurated the National Committee for Software Policy on December 6, 2010.Angaye explained that the value of software exported from India is currently about $20 billion yearly, stressing that in 2007 alone, India's software services industry employed about two million people and contributed about 48 per cent of India's GDP, 'Today, India exports software and services to nearly 95 countries around the world. I see no reason why Nigeria too cannot achieve this feat, because both human and material resources are in this country.'The chairman of the Software Policy Committee, Prof. Charles Akinyokun said that the mission of the policy was to promote software as the topmost Critical National Information Infrastructure (CNII) for the growth of the economy.Akinyokun said that the policy would promote Nigeria as a hub for the growth of software industry and facilitating flow of investments.He said that there would be strategic plan to ensue the implementation of the policy for the betterment of the country.
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