By Etta Michael Bisong
Abuja
The Director General of the National Information Technology Development Authority (NITDA), Mr. Peter Jack is seeking to collaborate with the Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC) as part of efforts to showcase and promote Nigeria local products and services to the world.
Mr. Jack, who initiated the collaboration while receiving the management team of the NEPC recently at the agency’s head office in Abuja, underlined information technology and standards as well as guidelines and regulations as core areas of NITDA’s mandate.
He said: “We are willing to partner with NEPC for the capacity development of its staff and development of a portal for effective management of export procedures,” adding that NITDA will strictly adhere to the pursuit of its mandate. “NITDA has set up an office to superintend over Nigerian Content Development in ICT to encourage the use of local content in the country.
He said a multi-stakeholder partnership would be encourage to facilitate growth in the sector, citing Jumia and Konga as some e-commerce platforms that can increase investment in the sector.
He urged Nigeria to learn from the experiences of India and South Korea to mostly how the two countries were able to evolve through IT development.
In his remarks, the Executive Director of NEPC, Mr. Olusegun Awolowo acknowledged the need to collaborate with NITDA and make more goods available for export.
The partnership, according to him, would also help Nigeria to create an alternative source of revenue generation beyond oil which has been the country’s major source of export.
Mr. Awolowo listed information and communication technologies (ICTs), agriculture and entertainment as some of the sectors seeking attention to increase economic prosperity in the country.
According to him, the Nigeria Industrial Regulation Plan (NIRP) and the National Enterprise Development Programmes (NEDP) are some of the working plan initiatives they are working with to revamp the export sector.
He listed capacity development of his staff on e-commerce, CISCO and development of a portal to serve as an online market, packaging, labeling and nutritional information as some challenging areas bedeviling the successful operation of NEPC, urging NITDA to assist in its collaborative effort to address these crises.
