Domestication of ICT innovations a priority for FG — Minister

ABUJA – Mrs Omobola Johnson, the Minister of Information and Communications Technology, said on Tuesday that the domestication of innovations in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) remained a priority for the Federal Government.

Johnson said this during an interactive session with newsmen on the training of 1,000 girls in ICT in Abuja.

She said that at the moment, the policies of the government were more focused on ICT innovations and promotion for the development of new companies.

“One of the biggest priorities that we have is actually innovation and we are looking at innovation, specifically in the field of software development and what we’ve done is to catalyse that innovation.

“We’ve actually established two incubation centres where we are actually incubating a number of young ICT companies. Right now, there are about 70 start-ups in the innovation centres in Yaba and Tinapa.

“Innovations have always been there, but what we are trying to do is to bring it up to the surface and make these innovations more than innovations, creating companies out of the ideas and software applications that are being developed.

“There is a policy definitely – it is an ICT policy about how we are going to encourage and support youth with innovation.
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“We are focused, at this particular time, on the software industry, but there is also a lot to do where there is a hardware quality service.“

Speaking on girl-child initiatives, the minister said that focusing on developing the software industry was part of efforts being made to develop the girl-child and to improve the employability of the educated women in the ICT sector.

“What we are trying to do is to create programmes in our own particular sectors that will encourage the employment and the inclusion of women in development.

“France is particularly important because when you look at all the statistics, there’s a big gender divide in the world of ICT.

“And when you look at how ICT is beginning to take over the way that they live, the way that they work and do everything, it means that women will get further left behind if we don’t encourage them to understand ICT and even be professionals in the field of ICT.“ (NAN)[eap_ad_3]