By Hillary Asemota
It was thumbs up, excitement and ovation as the Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR) has awarded the National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP) a silver plaque award.
The award on the heel of an independent assessment as well as validated assessment of NOTAP by the bureau in October, 2021.
Presenting the award to the Director General of NOTAP Dr. DanAzumi Mohammed Ibrahim at the Office Headquarters in Abuja recently, the Director General of BPSR Engr. Dasuki Ibrahim Arabi said NOTAP is rated a silver level organization by the bureau having scored 74.25% and therefore met expectation in all essential areas of responsibility.
He added that the quality of work in the organization is generally good since the most critical organizational goals are achieved and as such deserves the silver award but urged the agency to work harder since it has great potentials for improvement.
He noted that NOTAP is playing a leading role in line with governments agenda of using technology to provide services and employment for the nations teeming youths and commended the office for adopting Information Technology (IT) to digitalize its processes locally and engage with its stakeholders. He added that the bureau is happy with what they have seen in the organization and its worth celebrating.
Arabi, however noted that NOTAP needs to put in place and strengthen certain policies in order to enhance good governance especially in organizational health safety, code of conduct, human resources management, staff training, robust financial accounting, e-procurement and internal control mechanisms.
Earlier in his welcome address, Director General of NOTAP, said the Office was primarily established to regulate the inflow of foreign technologies into Nigeria and is also responsible for the promotion of locally motivated technologies.
He noted that while executing its mandate of regulating technology transfer agreements the office has between the years 2012 to 2022 saved the nation over N140 billion that would have left to foreign countries as capital flight.
Ibrahim, added that NOTAP instituted various partnerships with Industry in order to bridge the wide gap that is existing between academia and industry through projects like the NOTAP Industry Technology Transfer Fellowship (NITTF).
He said the programme which kicked off in 2015 was envisaged to be a voluntary contribution fund by industries to support high level manpower training (PhDs) to fast-track the development, acquisition, assimilation and diffusion of technology in Nigerian industries and has so far enrolled 21 Nigerians.
The DG informed the bureau that NOTAP also instituted the Local Vendor Policy out of the concern that over 90 percent of the software being utilized by Nigerians especially in the banking and other financial sectors was imported leading to an urgent need for the enhancement of indigenous software development.
He added that through its mandate of registration of technology transfer agreements, NOTAP made it mandatory for Local Vendors to be involved in all Annual Technical Support (ATS) services for Software Agreements or updates and the Local Vendor’s fee paid in naira by the licensor.
This policy he stressed has made tremendous impact in strengthening the capacity of indigenous software developers who are presently developing software for local consumption and export to African countries.
The DG said that the rating of NOTAP by the bureau is a wakeup call for the Office management to analyze the recommendations of the report and improve performances.
He assured that the office will work hard to achieve 85 percent when the bureau commences the next phase of its assessment of the Office.
The DG, emphasized: “If all agencies are subjected to this type of assessment and they religiously follow the recommendations, I am sure the target of becoming one of the top 20 reformed public service in the whole world will be achieved”.
He expressed gratitude to the Bureau for finding NOTAP worthy of the award and commended it for the work it is doing which he stated, is critical in enhancing good governance in the public service.
Signed: Solomon Nshem
Deputy Director,
Public Relations & Protocol