“Off the shelf” foreign software, a bane to Nigerian software technology – NITDA

The Director General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Isa Ibrahim Pantami has identified the “off-the-shelf software” from foreign developers as the bane for software development and technology in Nigeria.

The Director General who was represented by the NITDA’s Director of e-Governance and Regulatory, Vincent Olatunji at the stakeholders’ engagement for the review of the  “Guidelines for Information systems Audit and Nigeria software Testing guidelines held in Abuja decried that the stiff competition from foreign developers deny local producers the opportunity to grow.

The agency, which is responsible for the regulation and development of the information technology in Nigeria said his agency is working to change the situation by evolving software testing and information system security best practices.

In his opening remarks, he said the local industry is not reaping the growth in IT investment.

“The acquisition of technology-driven solutions to drive growth in the public and private sectors have continued to increase in Nigeria.

“The indigenous software market has not been left out of this growth trend, but continues to suffer stiff competition from foreign off-the-shelf software used to meet local needs, where indigenous software could have provided the appropriate solutions,” he said.

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Quoting unnamed industry analysts, the NITDA DG said the trend has affected the growth of the local software sector, “which by now should be in excess of probably $10 billion annually if well harnessed”.

He attributed the low patronage of local developers to quality assurance challenges.

Mr Ibrahim said the two new regulatory documents will help in addressing some of the challenges.

“The Nigerian Software Testing Guidelines (NSTG) is developed on the premise that mitigating software vulnerability risks through the promotion of structured software testing practice for safety and quality of software development will create the enabling environment for growth of the indigenous testing sector in Nigeria,” he said.