Experts seek support for local technology production
TECHNOLOGY and engineering experts have emphasised the need for the government to expedite policies that would aid local production of technology, to give Nigeria international recognition and strengthen the economy.
They noted that this would help the country to shrug off the tag of a consuming nation to become a producing one.
This was disclosed at the inking of a Memorandum of Understanding ( MOU) between Rock Results Group, a construction and civil engineering conglomerate and NUGI Technologies Limited, an ICT solution firm.
The firms assured that they would be deploying technological solutions in the transportation, banking, agriculture, education and utilities sectors, with a view to ending technology importation, which costs the country millions of dollars every year.
Specifically, President/ Chief Executive Officer ( CEO), Rock Results Group, Ifeanyi Okorie, said the partnership would advance Nigerian- based technology that is internationally verifiable and certified.
He said: “So, all the government needs to give us is a level playing ground, create policies that will aid people like NUGI Tech, Rock Results Group to come together to sell Nigeria technology to the world.
“Our partnership with NUGI Technologies is strategically pivoting our movement into the tech space in Africa. This partnership is strategic to both companies, the government and society as a whole, as we seek to create a solution that will impact our community and the nation.
“Our ecosystem comes with the capacity of creating thousands of jobs beginning here in Nigeria in a few months. Our focus in this partnership is to create value for everyone and to use technology to make a positive impact in Africa and beyond,” he said.
The CEO of NUGI Technologies, Ugi Augustine, said the two companies have come together to bring technology back home, and end the annual spending on technology importation.
He said: “The partnership will be saving Nigeria millions of dollars yearly, as all the technological solutions being imported will be delivered within Nigeria.” Speaking on the company’s solutions that attracted the partnership, Augustine said NUGI Technologies have been operating for five years and have been impacting the economy positively, deploying solutions in hospitals, schools and government’s institutions to block revenue leakages.
Citing an example of how the company has been using technological solutions to help institutions block revenue leakages, Augustine said the Cross River State University of Technology ( CRUTECH), and a federal parastatal in the aviation sector were some of the institutions that have benefited from the company’s expertise.
“The school was always going on strike due to lack of payment of salaries. And we told them, don’t pay us for one year, let us work. We deployed our solution and we helped the school generate enough revenue within a year such that there was no strike again. Between 2017 and 2020, we generated N5 billion for the school. The statistics are there.
“Since both companies are experienced at what we do, our coming together is strategic because Rock Results has been in business for more years than NUGI Technologies. When you bring experience and expertise together, you get the best result, which is what we are doing.”
Augustine added that the partnership is beyond Nigeria, as it is targeted at ensuring that customer- centric ICT solutions are provided across Africa and globally.
TO complement and boost government efforts in tackling the issue of malnutrition in Nigeria, the Aliko Dangote Foundation ( ADF) has initiated processes to reach and properly feed one million children across the country, commencing immediately
According to the United Nations Children Fund ( UNICEF), malnutrition is a direct or underlying cause of 45 per cent of all deaths of under- five children, and Nigeria has the second highest burden of stunted children in the world, with a national prevalence rate of 37 per cent of children under five.
The UN agency in a statement on its website also noted that an estimated two million children in Nigeria suffer from severe acute malnutrition ( SAM), but only two out of every 10 children affected is currently reached with treatment. It added that seven percent of women of childbearing age also suffer from acute malnutrition, and that the first 1,000 days of a child's life offer a unique window of opportunity for preventing under nutrition and its consequences.
However, to reverse the negative trend, the Chairman of Aliko Dangote Foundation and Africa’s wealthiest man, Aliko Dangote said, “We recognise nutrition as a cross- cutting issue which affects other critical development goals, that is why nutrition has become our core focus. We want to reach one million malnourished children in Nigeria and we know that for every dollar invested in nutrition, the nation as a whole will reap huge economic dividends.
“In addition, we shall reach households of children with SAM and their communities that contribute the most to the SAM burden with food security, cash- based interventions and livelihoods support, engendered infant and young child feeding, hygiene and care- seeking behaviours."