Nigeria can join world’s top 20 economies, says ATCON
By Omobayo Azeez
…sets March 26 for dialogue on ICT, national development
Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) has expressed Nigeria’s chance to join top 20 economies in the world by leveraging of telecoms and ICT resources.
ATCON expressed this possibility as it finalized plans to host a National Dialogue on Telecommunications and ICT Sector in Nigeria
With the theme “Harnessing the Digital Resources for the building of our National Economy”, the national dialogue is scheduled to hold in Abuja on March 26.
“One of the overriding deliverables of this national dialogue on telecoms and ICT sector is that the adoption of digital resources by all aforementioned sectors would lead to development which would eventually make Nigeria to join the league of the top 20 global economies,” ATCON said on Friday in at statement signed by Ajibola Olude, its executive secretary.
According to the umbrella body of telecom operators in the country, growth across all the sectors of Nigeria’s economy should be exponential, following recent resolve by the federal government through the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy to drive the entire economy with digital resources.
“This National Dialogue on Telecoms and ICT is targeted at changing the narrative of our country’s development through the optimal utilization of digital resources.
“To achieve this, state governors, ministries, agencies and sectors like agriculture, education, oil & gas, health, industry, trade and investment, security and defence have been invited along with telecom and ICT companies,” the statement read.
According to the association, the supply side which is comprised of telecom and ICT companies and the demand side which is made up of all the MDAs, Nigerians and non-Nigerians are expected to have higher level of productivity on the condition that they adopt and leverage on the opportunities presented by the digital economy to improve their output.
This strategic dialogue plans to bring together the presidency, National Assembly, relevant federal ministries, state governors, ICT state commissioners, telecom and ICT operating companies, World Bank and other international relevant agencies, according to ATCON.
The strategic objectives of the proposed National Dialogue are to channel collaborative efforts toward Nigerian Digital Economy with the sole aim of accelerating the economy’s performance in relation to other leading African countries.
Other objectives highlighted by ATCON are to serve as a forum to discuss the recently launched documents on Digital Economy and take stakeholders input for implementation, optimally X-ray the factors that have worked for and against the telecom and ICT sector in Nigeria, and to discuss regulations and policies around AI, IoT and Blockchain.
Meanwhile, thought leaders have been invited to do discuss various topics bothering on dynamic ways of leveraging of telecoms and ICT resources to multiply growth pace in the country.
Other thematic topics for the conference include National Funding and Investment Strategy for Broadband Infrastructure and Digital Economy: The Importance of Education and Awareness and Regulation on Emerging Technologies such as AI, IoT, robotics, blockchain, etc: Leveraging on Nigerian Young Population’s Innovation and Creativity for National Development.
“There shall be a special sectoral discussion tagged “Harnessing Digital Resources for Sectoral Effectiveness and Efficiency for National Development,” the statement read.