A telecom expert and Chief Technical Officer of Swift Telephone Network, Mr. Dare Folorunsho has charged the federal government to implement local content policy as being implemented in the oil and gas sector.
Mr. Dare, who was speaking at BusinesMetrics organized conference with special focus on National Policy for the Promotion of Indigenous Content in the Nigerian Telecoms Sector, argued that the local content policy is expedient going by the new global drive for the digital economy and considering the facts that telecommunication is the primary channel.
“It is important that this same local content policy being implemented in the oil and gas sector is implemented for the telecommunication sector,” he charged.
He listed justifiable reasons the Nigerian Communications Commissions (NCC) should put in place a strong local content policy to include job creation, foreign direct investment, technology adoption, enhanced security and revenue and forex earnings.
Meanwhile, Mr. Dare has also made a case for the Small and Medium-scale Enterprises (SMEs), saying in most countries, they are recognized as key drivers of accelerated and sustainable economic development.
He noted that their flexibility, dynamic adaptation to changing market conditions, and ability to stimulate ingenious entrepreneurship and respond to technological innovations make them significant systems for technology acquisition and transfer.
“This is why the development strategies of many governments now indicate that particular attention is paid to the SME sector as a prerequisite for long-term social and technological progress,” he explained.
The Nigerian Government on recognizing the implications of building the technological capacity of indigenous SMEs introduced the Local Content Policy to the oil and gas industry. Today, over 60% of sophisticated engineering projects and other services in Nigerian Oil & Gas are outsourced in-country to local companies.