Software developers in Nigeria are enjoying less patronage than they might expect due to the lack of sustained support from the Nigerian government, which is accused of neglecting local developers.
Kyari Bukar, chief executive officer (CEO) of the Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) and chairman of the committee on Techlaunchpad, said foreign software was being favoured over locally developed options.
“20 years ago, Nigerian banking operations were largely driven by local software developed in Nigeria. But today, they are largely driven by foreign software, with no regard for locally developed software,” he said.
He decried the rejection of local software developers by core investors and multinational companies in the nation’s booming oil, gas and financial sectors.
“They do not believe in locally developed software, and they have blamed the situation on the inability of locally developed software to meet their demands and that of international standards. They have continued to neglect local software and kept patronising foreign software to the detriment of the Nigerian economy,” he said.
As a result of the government’s lack of support for the sub-sector, he said the nation continues to be on the losing end of capital flight, losing revenues that ought to accrue from software procurement to foreign nations.
“The reason for neglect of local software from Nigeria was that technology had over time grown beyond the local software developers and investors are looking for new technologies that will drive their today’s business and give them better returns on investment.
“Our local software developers must be able to come up with software applications that will solve today’s challenges and they should be able to anticipate the future trend of technology development, if they must compete well in the software industry.”
