Abuja – An Information and Communication Technology (ICT) expert has called on government at all levels to appoint experts to head ICT regulatory agencies, saying it will enhance nationwide growth of the sector.
Miss Kemi Tijani, the Public Sector Solutions lead of Microsoft Nigeria, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), on Friday in Abuja.
According to Tijani, since policy regulation is done by government agencies, it is important to have experts at the helms of affairs of the ICT sector to enhance growth.
“It is really difficult for you to regulate something that you don’t know about. In order to have the right policy you need to have the right knowledge, to have the right knowledge you need the right people. .
“Governments should get more talents at the forefront, into the public sector so that they can have the right sort of thinking about how to regulate these industries.
“We need people that understand how to write the application, how to code, how to manage networks to head ICT sectors.
“And if we can start to bridge that gap with very intentional investment from the government, from the private sector, that will be a great start,” she said.
Apart from having competent regulators, Tijani also mentioned other factors underpinning the nation’s ICT growth within Africa and the world, urging the policy makers to expedite action in solving the problems.
“For Nigeria to take its place in the ICT world, and to be number one in Africa, it also needs to encourage ICT education and adequate connectivity.
“If I have access to the internet, I can teach myself how to code, if you give people the platform, people can really help themselves.
“ If you have better bandwidth, better connectivity, cheaper connectivity as well or subsidised for those who can’t afford to pay, that will also go a long way in improving our IT situation,” she added.
The Microsoft boss, however commended the nation’s internet providers, saying they it had recently improved compare to few years back when the services were not so good.
Tijani also urged the government and other stakeholders in the ICT sector to create more awareness on existence of cyber threat and how to avoid being victims of such act, and create opportunities for key operators to share experience.
NAN recalls that internet attackers had made series of attempts to attack various government agencies which were later tackled by the administrators. (NAN)
Experts should head ICT agencies to grow sector- Expert
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