An Analysis of the NITDA Local Content Development in ICT Guidelines 2013
Nigeria’s ICT sector is broadly regulated by the Ministry of Communications through its various agencies. One of those agencies, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) was created in 2007 through the National Information Technology Development Agency Act (the ‘Act’). It is empowered to provide a framework for technology practices in Nigeria and an incentive regime to promote the use of information technology, as well as take other steps to encourage investments into Nigeria’s ICT sector1.
Nigeria’s ICT sector is broadly regulated by the Ministry of Communications through its various agencies. One of those agencies, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) was created in 2007 through the National Information Technology Development Agency Act (the ‘Act’). It is empowered to provide a framework for technology practices in Nigeria and an incentive regime to promote the use of information technology, as well as take other steps to encourage investments into Nigeria’s ICT sector1.
In exercise of these powers, NITDA issued the Guidelines for Nigerian Content Development in Information and Communications Technology which came into force on December 3, 2013.
In this article, we examine the salient provisions of the Guidelines and the underlying importance of local content development in ICT in Nigeria. We also consider the practicality of provisions of the Guidelines in Nigeria’s present ICT economy by identifying the latent gaps in the provisions and highlighting their possible implications for ICT local content regulatory framework. Finally, we offer a few recommendations.... Read More
NEWS BITS
5 NEW COMPANIES TO EMERGE FROM NIPOST
The Minister of Communications, Engr. Adebayo Shittu, has disclosed that the Ministry will establish five new companies from the Nigeria Postal Service (NIPOST) namely; NIPOST Banking and Insurance Company; NIPOST Property and Development Company; NIPOST Transport and Logistics Services Company; NIPOST E-government Services Company; and NIPOST E-commerce Services Company.
This was made known at the official launch of the Nigeria Information and Communications Technology (ICT) roadmap in Lagos yesterday. The ICT sector Roadmap 2017 to 2020 will focus on the ICT industry and infrastructure development, governance, policy, legal and regulatory environment, capacity-building and cross-cutting issues such as information security and innovation. It will also promote public private partnerships (PPP) to attract investments in high quality infrastructural facilities and services.
The Ministry plans to leverage business process outsourcing and other ICT sector opportunities to create two million jobs, establish a technological park and ICT exhibition centre, create ICT innovation hubs across the nation and reposition NIPOST to enable it provide cost effective 21st century services.
ALLIANZ GROUP ACQUIRES ENSURE
Allianz Group, one of the leading global insurers and asset managers, recently completed the acquisition of 99.03% of one of the firms in Nigerian insurance market, Ensure Insurance Plc. Ensure Insurance before the acquisition, had Greenoaks Global Holdings Limited (GGH) as its major shareholder.
With this transaction, Ensure Insurance becomes part of Allianz Group and will henceforth operate as Ensure-a company of Allianz.
Ensure Insurance offers life and non-life insurance services and will benefit from the technical underwriting expertise, global presence and financial support of the Allianz Group. On the other hand, Allianz customers benefit from a broad range of personal and corporate insurance services ranging from property, life and health insurance to assistance services to credit insurance and global business insurance.
NIGERIA & NIGER REPUBLIC SIGN BILATERAL AGREEMENT ON REFINERY
President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria and his Niger counterpart, President Mahammadou Issoufou have today signed a bilateral agreement on the construction of Hydrocarbon Pipeline from Niger to Nigeria.
The two presidents thereafter inaugurated the steering and technical committee. The project includes a potential refinery around Kaduna State axis.
MTN & MICROSOFT SUPPORT SMES
MTN Nigeria and Microsoft Nigeria have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate on the creation of sustainable and scalable initiatives aimed at driving growth for operators of small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria. The partnership will leverage Microsoft’s technologies and MTN’s expertise to create strong value propositions for the SMEs segment, through the Microsoft 4Afrika initiative.
These proposals will speak to the needs of SMEs around capability development, access to markets and business networks across Africa; empower them to digitally transform their businesses, be more productive and competitive; and address some of their challenges through the creation of innovative solutions.
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