Nigeria loses N156bn annually to patronage of foreign software

The President of Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria, (ISPON) Dr. Chris Uwaje, made this known in Calabar at the just concluded Software Competition organised by ISPONNwaje attributed the losses to the inconsistent version upgrade, processes leading to failed software products, project implementation and services.He listed unregulated state of foreign software products in Nigeria, non-existent […]

The President of Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria, (ISPON) Dr. Chris Uwaje, made this known in Calabar at the just concluded Software Competition organised by ISPON
Nwaje attributed the losses to the inconsistent version upgrade, processes leading to failed software products, project implementation and services.
He listed unregulated state of foreign software products in Nigeria, non-existent national policy and legislation on software, implementation of e-government, e-education, tele-medicine and protection of cyberspace for national security and survivability as other factors confronting the growth of Information and Communication Technology (ICT).
He said that the annual capital flight to software licensing, delivery services and technical support in the nation’s economy has been conservatively valued at N156 billion ($1 billion) annually by the institute .
Meanwhile, the chairman of Cross River State Local Government Service Commission, Prince Nja Nkang Abang has confirmed that in eight months N9.5million has been recovered following introduction of Information Communication Technology.
He made the disclosure in Calabar while addressing journalists on the achievements and challenges of the commission in the last one year.
According to him, the introduction of ICT has also helped to stop infiltration of swindlers who compounded problems of pension payment in the state.
He said the commission has since commenced online computation of all terminal benefits of pensioners and other staff.
“The Local Government Pensions Board has adopted e-payment for pensions and gratuities direct to the 419 pensioners’ personal accounts. This method has reduced the incidence of swindlers who had infiltrated the board before now”, he said.