By Dele Ogbodo
The Director General (DG), National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP), Dr. Obiageli Amadiobi, has charged software developers, FinTechs and banks to utilize and promote made in Nigeria software.
The DG gave the charge at this year’s Texcellence Conference organized by a leading indigenous IT firm, Computer Warehouse Group (CWG) at the Balmoral Hall, Federal Palace Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos.
The Director General who was a panelist during the session on “Government Parastatals Conversation, Collaborative Innovation: Shaping Africa’s Tomorrow Economy,” said there was need to invest in indigenous technology solutions to make the nation economically self-reliant to compete favourably in the world technology ecosystem.
The NOTAP boss while speaking on Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), noted that most researchers, inventors and innovators do not understand the concept of patenting which explains why NOTAP has presently established 67 Intellectual Property Technology Transfer Offices (IPTTOs) in various universities, polytechnics and research institutes across Nigeria to create the needed intellectual property rights awareness.
She added that NOTAP’s recent call for stronger collaboration with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) was to build the capacity of IPTTO managers so that researchers fully understand the concept of IPR and the benefits therein.
The Deputy Director (PR) NOTAP, Mr. Solomon Nshem, in a statement quoted the
DG as decrying the situation whereby researchers publish their research works only for promotion purposes noting that the triple helix concept in which the academia, industry and government are brought together to ensure effective collaboration on technology development in the country was being implemented by NOTAP with exceptional results.
She said that NOTAP assists researchers, inventors and innovators to evaluate their research findings and pay the patent fees for them at the Patent Registry domiciled in the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment.
She encouraged software developers and FinTechs to ensure that their innovations are protected by obtaining their rights through patenting or copyright since it will benefit them maximally.
The NOTAP boss stated that collaboration was important amongst stakeholders in the technology development ecosystem in Nigeria.
Amadiobi, also called for the strengthening of policies that will ensure stronger collaboration between government and the private sector since this will improve the economy and prosperity in the African continent.
The convener of the conference and Group Chief Executive Officer of the Computer Warehouse Group Adewale Adeyipo said that the event was held annually to bring together Africa’s foremost innovators, technologists, business and government leaders to explore the future of the continent’s digital transformation with the 2024 theme as, “Revealing Tomorrow”.
Adeyipo, who spoke on technology for economic growth and national development opined that technology is influencing categorization of nations because of its impact in improving people’s lives on a daily basis.
He said that Africa must leverage technology to build its nations and embrace digital literacy stressing that the partnership between the government and private sector was crucial in ensuring technology development in Africa.
In his presentation, Fredrik Haren who was known globally as the creativity explorer said that Nigeria was a very confident and creative country and should harness this potential for the economic benefit of the people.
He said that the most important skill to have in our present world was creative thinking and the only way to be successful is to embrace technology.
He stated that confidence was important for creativity but curiosity beats confidence adding that curiosity is the ability to question confidence.
Haren revealed that, “your creativity reveals your tomorrow and your curiosity inspire your creativity” noting that Africa should invest in Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a tool for increasing productivity since it was the most powerful tool for creativity.
Other speakers at the conference include the Managing Director MTN Nigeria- Mr. Karl Toriola, CEO of Strata, Mr. Bode Abifarin, the Director General of NITDA, Mr. Kashifu Inuwa, represented by a Director in the agency Dr. Aristotle Enumo, CEO of INGEN Ghana, David Gowu, Chairman Bulgarian Association for Parking and Sustainable Urban mobility, Nikola Rogatchev and the Regional Sales Lead, West Africa and Mauritius, Red Hat, Mr. Oluwafiropo Ogundare and other dignitaries.
Participants at the conference unanimously harped on the need for effective collaboration amongst all stakeholders as a way of fostering sustainable development of the technology ecosystem in Africa.
It is worthy to note that the organizer of the conference, Computer Warehouse Group is amongst the indigenous IT companies that gained prominence through the NOTAP Local Vendor Policy which was borne out of the concern that over 90 percent of software being utilized by Nigerians especially in the banking and other financial sectors were being imported leading to the urgent need for the enhancement of indigenous software development.
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 from the amount payable to the foreign licensor.
The policy made tremendous impact in strengthening the capacity of indigenous software developers like CWG who are presently developing software for local and international utilisation.
The 2024 Texcellence Conference is the third in the series aimed at highlighting the latest advancements driving Africa’s digital economy and attracted stakeholders from various sectors of the economy in Nigeria and Africa.