Abuja – Young people have been urged to identify social challenges that affect Nigerians and seek ways to use technology to solve them.
Mr Gimba Mohammed, Mainone’s Head, Regional Business, Nigeria, made the call during interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in Abuja on Thursday.
He held that Information and Communication Technology (ICT), sector had the potentials of creating employment for youths in the country.
“Opportunities for youths in ICT sector are endless. Young people need to identify social challenges that affect Nigerians and seek ways to use technology to solve them.
“It is important for young people to take advantage of technology and begin to think critically of how they can tap into the internet boom in the country.
“You don’t have to look far, how can you solve the traffic challenge in Lagos using ICT? How can technology help farmers cultivate better tomatoes?
“Many young people are bringing creative ideas to create social value and wealth leveraging on technology, including DealDey and Konga (e-commerce), IrokoTV (Media), Paga (Finance) and BudgIT (Budget/Advocacy), among others.’’
On companies hosting data services abroad, Mohammed said that it was in response to this challenge that Mainone built its Tier III Data Center, MDXi.
According to him, to mitigate the risk of hosting data abroad, Mainone’s Data Center offered in-country hosting.
The Mainone boss added that one did not have to worry about Forex issues as the facility, though world class, allowed one to pay in naira.
According to him, companies that host their critical data abroad are usually not familiar with the limitations of hosting outside Nigeria.
“Latency is reduced, security is a challenge; access to your data is also a challenge.
“Then imagine the risks; how can a Nigerian government domicile its data in US, for example? Are we aware of US data rules, where the US government or security agencies are allowed access to your data?
He said that Mainone had continued to engage regulators on creating policies to enable indigenous hosting of indigenous data.
“We have spoken to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), among others.
“We are optimistic that Nigerians will be more aware of the value in hosting locally and in our certified facilities. (NAN)