The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has called on Certified Computer Manufacturers of Nigeria (CCMON) to improve the quality of indigenously made devices.
Mr Kashifu Inuwa, the Director-General of NITDA, made the appeal in a virtual meeting monitored in Abuja between the agency and CCMON.
The meeting agenda was on issues affecting the increasing adoption of indigenously assembled devices in Nigeria and possible ways of moving the country’s ICT hardware sub-sector of the economy forward.
Inuwa said that through adequate implementation of local content policy, CCMON could build synergy to ensure devices meet the minimum standards and requirements.
According to him, the requirements will enable Original Equipments Manufacturers (OEMs) have sufficient after-sales-support of their devices.
The director-general announced a joint committee between the two institutions to address all concerns and ensure strategic plans, headed by Mr Kassim Sodangi, National Coordinator, Office for Nigerian Content, NITDA.
Inuwa encouraged the manufacturers to be competitive in terms of price and also set their target to meet public needs.
On his part, Sodangi said that the agency had been engaging Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) through its IT project clearance channel.
Sodangi added that they had also encouraged purchases of local devices.
He regretted that NITDA cannot be everywhere to monitor compliance to local devices patronage, but had insisted that IT procurements should give preference to indigenous manufacturers as stipulated in Executive Order 003.
The national coordinator admonished OEMs to do their marketing and promote their products because some MDAs need where to purchase their devices in large quantity.
The President of CCMON, Mrs Adenike Abudu, said that comparative patronage of Nigerian OEMs was relatively low and that investments made by indigenous OEMs was still underutilised.
Abudu added that several government agencies still did not patronise indigenous OEMs as required by the Guidelines for Nigerian Content and Executive Orders 003 signed by President Muhammadu Buhari.
She however identified gaps in communication between NITDA and the association, noting that there is a need to improve interaction.
The president also said there was need for partnership with NITDA to ensure implementation of policies that would help OEMs to thrive and create more jobs.
“The specification of these devices by MDAs is complex because the components of hardware are the same.
“The only difference is the processor and there are over 10 different types of processors and OEMs cannot stock up one type of processor, they work with the requested specifications at every given time,” Abudu said. (NAN)
