New Nigeria IT Local Content Policy_NITDA
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Transcript of New Nigeria IT Local Content Policy_NITDA
Draft Framework and Guidelines for Nigerian Content in Information Technology. !"#$
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Draft Framework and Guidelines for Nigerian Content in Information
Technology.
Draft Framework and Guidelines for Nigerian Content in Information Technology. !"#$
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Authors
National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA)
In collaboration with:
Dr. Armstrong Takang
Dr. Adeniyi Onamusi
Mr. David Agogo
Mr. Inye Kemabonta
Contributors
• Information Technology (Industry) Association of Nigeria (ITAN)
• Computer and Allied Products Dealers Association of Nigeria (CAPDAN)
• Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON)
• Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NIRA)
• Nigeria Computer Society (NCS)
• Microsoft Corporation
• Hitachi Data Systems
• Oracle Corporation
• Mrs. Mary Uduma
• Mrs. Florence Seriki
• Chief Leo Stan Ekeh
• Mr. Ibrahim Balogun
• Mr. Pius Okigbo
• Mr. Will Anyaegbunam
• Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem
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ACRONYMS AND GLOSSARY
ATCON – Association of Telecom Companies of Nigeria AU – African Union BS - Broadband Services BPP – Bureau of Public Procurement CMD - Centre for Management Development CNII – Critical National Information Infrastructure CNSI – Critical National Software Infrastructure CPN – Computer Professional (Registration Council) of Nigeria CSO – Civil Society Organisation CITO - Chief Information Technology Officer DPA - Data Protection Act ECOWAS – Economic Community of West African States EU – European Union FCSC – Federal Civil Service Commission FGN – Federal Government of Nigeria FIRS – Federal Inland Revenue Service FJSC – Federal Judicial Service Commission FME – Federal Ministry of Education FMST – Federal Ministry of Science and Technology GIS - Geographical Information System GII - Global Information Infrastructure GSM – Global System for Mobile Telecommunication HIS - Health Information System ICT – Information and Communications Technology ICT4D – Information and Communications Technology for Development IDP – International Development Partners
IKE – Information and Knowledge Economy ISPON – Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria ITF - Industrial Training Fund IT - Information Technology/Information Communication Technology IAP - Internet Access Provider ISP - Internet Service Provider KS – Knowledge Society KPI – Key Performance Indicators LEEDS – Local Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy LII - Local Information Infrastructure MDA – Ministry, Department and Agency MDG – Millennium Development Goals NAPEP – National Poverty Eradication Programme NASSCOM – National Association of Software and Service Companies NASENI – National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure NCC - Nigerian Communications Commission NCS – Nigerian Computer Society NDE - National Directorate of Employment NDS – Nigerian Developed Software NECC - National Electronic Commerce Council NII - National Information Infrastructure NIIB - National Information Infrastructure Backbone NITDA - National Information Technology Development Agency NITDEF - National Information Technology Development Funds NITEL – Nigerian Tele-communications Limited NITMA - National IT Merit Awards
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NITC - Nigeria IT Corps NOA – National Orientation Agency NOTAP – National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion NSP – National Software Policy NISRID – National Institute of Software Research, Innovation and Development NUC – National Universities Commission NYSC - National Youth Service Corps ODM – Original Design Manufacturer OECD – Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development OEM – Original Equipment Manufacturer OSGF – Office of the Secretary to the Federal Government PC – Personal Computer PSF – Professional Service Firm R&D – Research and Development RID – Research Innovation and Development
RDBMS – Relational Database Management System SEEDS – State Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy SDT - Software Development Tools SFP – Software Fiscal Policy SI – Software Infrastructure SII - State Information Infrastructure SMART - Simple Moral Accountable Responsive Transparent SME - Small and Medium Enterprises SMEDAN – Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency SON – Standards Organization of Nigeria TLD – Top Level Domain UNECA – United Nations Economic Commission for Africa UBE - Universal Basic Education POP- Point of Presence PSF- Professional Service Firm WIPO - World Intellectual Property Organisation
Draft Framework and Guidelines for Nigerian Content in Information Technology. !"#$
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Authors ...................................................... 1
Contributors ................................................. 1
Foreword (Honourable Minister, Federal Ministry of Communications Technology) ................................... 6
Foreword (DG, NITDA) ......................................... 7
Preface ...................................................... 8
1.0 Introduction ............................................. 9
1.1 Background ................................................... 9 1.2 Stakeholder Analysis of the IT Sector ....................... 10
1.2.1 Analysis of Supply Side of the IT Sector ..................... 12 1.2.2 Analysis of Demand Side of the IT Sector ..................... 16 1.2.3 Analysis of Regulatory bodies in the IT Sector ............... 19
1.3 Growth Potential of the Local Technology Industry ........... 19 1.4 Need for a Local Content Policy and National IT Guidelines .. 22
1.4.1 Benefits ..................................................... 23 1.4.2 Risks ........................................................ 23 1.4.3 Balanced Perspective ......................................... 24
1.5 Multinational Companies as enablers and partners ............ 24 1.6 Role of Government and Regulatory Bodies .................... 25
2.0 The Content Policy Proposition .......................... 27
2.1 Policy Vision ............................................... 27 2.2 Policy Objectives ........................................... 27 2.3 Strategic Policy Goals: ..................................... 28 2.4 Policy Framework ............................................ 29
3.0 Local Content Policy and Guidelines ..................... 33
3.1 Policy on Development of the Information Technology Industry 33 3.1.1 Policy Statement ............................................. 33 3.1.2 Policy Objectives ............................................ 33 3.1.3 Policy Directives & Strategies: Hardware ..................... 33 3.1.4 Policy Directives & Strategies: Software ..................... 35 3.1.5 Policy Directives & Strategies: Telecommunications, Network & Internet Services .................................................. 36 3.1.6 Policy Directives & Strategies: Data & Information Management 37 3.1.7 Policy Directives & Strategies: Professional Services ........ 38
3.2 Policy on Intellectual Property Regulation and Protection ... 38 3.2.1 Policy Statement ............................................. 38 3.2.2 Policy Objectives ............................................ 38 3.2.3 Policy Strategies & Directives ............................... 39
3.3 Policy on Indigenous Innovation ............................. 40 3.3.1 Policy Statement ............................................. 40 3.3.2 Policy Objectives ............................................ 40 3.3.3 Policy Strategies & Directives ............................... 41
3.4 Guidelines for Local Content Development in IT .............. 43 3.4.1 Overview ..................................................... 43
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3.4.2 Indigenous Firm Recognition .................................. 43 3.4.2 IT Capacity Development ...................................... 45 3.4.3 Funding and Capital Sourcing ................................. 46 3.4.4 Product Development .......................................... 47 3.4.5 Demand Generation ............................................ 48 3.4.6 Support and Maintenance ...................................... 49 3.4.7 Fiscal and Regulatory Support ................................ 50
4.0 Policy Performance Measurement .......................... 51
4.1 Guidelines for Monitoring and Evaluation of the Policy ...... 51 4.2 Metrics for Measuring this Policy ........................... 51 4.3 Recommendations for Policy Review ........................... 56
Appendix 1: Government & Civil Service Guidelines ........... 57
e-Government .................................................... 57 e-Education ..................................................... 57 e-Health ........................................................ 58 Guidelines for IT Project Implementation in e-Government, e-Education and e-Health .......................................... 58 Project Management Guidelines ................................... 60 Project Implementation Guidelines ............................... 61 Project Sustainability Guidelines ............................... 62
Bibliography ................................................ 64
Draft Framework and Guidelines for Nigerian Content in Information Technology. !"#$
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Foreword (Honourable Minister, Federal Ministry of
Communications Technology)
Draft Framework and Guidelines for Nigerian Content in Information Technology. !"#$
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Foreword (DG, NITDA)
Draft Framework and Guidelines for Nigerian Content in Information Technology. !"#$
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Preface
This policy document was created through an integrative process that
took into consideration a wide range of stakeholders, global best
practices as well as current realities in the Nigerian IT sector.
The strategies and policies contained in this volume represent a new
direction with potential to create sustainable progress and success
for all stakeholders in the Nigerian IT sector.
The following methodology was used to develop this policy document.
Phase Tools/Techniques
Desk Research Literature review and analysis of similar policies in other sectors & countries.
Stakeholder Engagement Structured interviews, questionnaires, workshops, and online contribution.
Compilation of Draft Report Analysis of data and writing of draft report
Stakeholder Validation of Draft Report
Feedback on draft policies and guidelines obtained through workshops, consultation sessions and roadshows
Final Report Incorporation of feedback and amendments made to final copy of the report
Executive/Ministerial Approval
Approval is granted to the report and implementation commences
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1.0 Introduction
1.1 Background
Digital technologies have been the most transformative force in the
world over the latter half of the 20th century. No aspect of modern
life or sector of business has been left untouched by its
transformative power which has led to the destruction of entire
industries as well as the creation of new jobs and lines of business.
Digital technologies have fanned the flames of globalization and
transformed the world into a microcosm, as time and distance have
become easily dealt with by the click of a button. As these changes
continue to happen, forward thinking governments realise the need to
evolve policies and guidelines to serve as a foundation for managing
the effects of technology in people, businesses and society.
In Nigeria, the past decade has been a time of unprecedented growth in
the use and adoption of various digital technologies for communication
and computing. The explosion of mobile telecommunications technology
in Nigeria has seen an increase in tele-density from 0.73% in 2001 to
about 70% in ten years, with a total of 109 million active mobile
phone subscriptions across the country as at October 2012. The growth
in the number of homes with computers and Internet access, while still
extremely low, has almost doubled between 2003 and 2010 and the number
of personal computers (PCs) shipped into Nigeria has quadrupled. These
changes have occurred at the same time that businesses and government
have turned to various forms of technology to aid in carrying out
operations and improving service delivery, permanently changing the
economic landscape as result.
While the country appears to be in step with technological
advancements and global innovation and there are exceedingly high
levels of ICT consumerism, the Nigerian IT landscape is plagued by a
paradoxical economic deficit and a negative balance of trade as the
economic value generated locally with the imported technologies used
by Nigerians is far below optimal. This is evidenced by the
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nonexistence of technology exports and very low level of patronage of
locally produced ICT products including hardware and software.
Nevertheless, stakeholders in the sector have worked hard on several
fronts to grow the ICT sector and keep more Nigerians in step with the
rapid developments in the world of ICT. The presence of major
multinational hardware and software companies in Nigeria and the entry
of technology service companies into the Nigerian market are growing.
And there has been reasonable participation of an increasing number of
local companies in various aspects of ICT including OEM manufacturing,
internet services provision, backhaul networking provision, submarine
and terrestrial communications cabling and so on.
In spite of all of these achievements, there is the belief that the
participation and contribution of predominantly local companies and
Nigerian professionals in the value chain for the provision of most
ICT services is not significant. This has led to several efforts to
stimulate the ability of local companies to innovate and participate
more effectively. These efforts have included attempts at providing
venture capital; the establishment of business incubators across the
country and scholarship schemes for students in ICT related fields.
Most of these initiatives are being driven by various MDAs,
organizations and groups that see the need of investing in enabling
local companies and Nigerian professionals to play more active and
value-adding roles in the sector. It is with this background in mind
that NITDA aims to put forth this policy document for the sector.
1.2 Stakeholder Analysis of the IT Sector
The stakeholder analysis of the sector is carried out using the
Supply-Enabling Environment-Demand(SEED) model in order to support
full understanding of different contributors and participants in the
Nigerian IT sector. This allows us to identify and determine the
impact of different groups within the sector and to provide a broad
overview of what can be done to strengthen growth in the industry
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Supply (Content Producers): refer to individuals, organizations or
ministries, departments and agencies of government responsible for
providing, producing or manufacturing IT products and services as well
as modifying and maintaining existing products to deliver value to
consumers. The supply side can also be called the IT sector, and it
has as primary categories hardware providers, software providers,
network and telecommunication service providers and professional
services providers.
Enabling Environment (Regulators): refer to groups, organizations or
ministries, departments and agencies of government that carry out the
task of monitoring, managing and controlling the interaction between
content creators and content consumers. The task of regulating the IT
industry is increasingly more sophisticated due to the pace of change
in the sector. To achieve a more cohesive regulatory regime and a
progressive policy approach the different agencies responsible for
different areas impacted by IT can no longer afford to operate in
silos, rather must collaborate effectively.
Demand (Content Consumers): refer to individuals, organizations or
ministries, departments and agencies of government that are end users
of products and services being served through a particular digital
technology or platform. The demand side of any industry forms the
basis for growth and innovation as consumers demand and pay for goods
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and services. The demand side of the IT industry includes the retail
consumer market, the enterprise market and the public
sector/government consumer.
1.2.1 Analysis of Supply Side of the IT Sector
The following sections describe the supply side in more detail and
provide information about the major organizations and stakeholders
active in each area.
Hardware Providers: refers to companies involved in the
conceptualization, design, production, manufacture, distribution and
sales of the physical elements of a computer system. There are
currently five Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) in Nigeria
namely, Zinox Technologies, Omatek Computers, Beta Computers, Brian
Integrated Systems and Veda Technology. However, HP and Dell accounted
for almost 60% of the 743,000 computer units sold in Nigeria in 2012.
There have been several initiatives on the demand side to stimulate
the acquisition of hardware among Nigerian consumers. The Computer for
All Nigerians (CANi) program was created to increase IT penetration
and improve patronage of local OEMs specifically for this purpose.
Since then, there have been several assisted purchase programs
instituted by various arms of government and public sector
institutions across the country that allow Nigerians to purchase
computer hardware and network subscriptions at discounted rates and
using flexible repayment plans. Also, there have been concerted
efforts to increase government patronage of local OEMs, including the
passing of circulars to the effect. Some local organizations actively
working for the growth of this sector include ITAN, CAPDAN and NCS.
Multinationals active in this segment of the industry include HP,
Dell, Samsung and Acer which collectively have over 70% of the market
share for computer hardware. A large amount of sales is done through
local partners who retail computers across the country in technology
markets across the country. Available figures for hardware sales in
the market tend not to include the thriving market for used computers
which still flock into the country despite regulations on the control
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of hazardous waste and their disposal, such as the Basel Convention,
being enforced by the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON).
Software Providers: refers to companies involved in the
conceptualization, design, development, release, sale and support of
the logic which enables the processing of data. The NCS estimates
current local capacity for software design and development, web
content and portal services and graphic and multimedia development to
be below 35,000 companies. A large number of these companies are
represented under the umbrella of ISPON. Some leading Nigerian
software companies include Allied Soft, Progenics, AC&S, Computer
Warehouse Group, SystemSpecs, Infographics, Socket Works and Chams
Plc. Many of these companies make a huge portion of their revenues
from reselling and servicing multinational software brands. In
general, across the software landscape in Nigeria very few companies
have the capacity for any large scale software development projects or
specialist software for critical sectors such as banking, petroleum
industry, etc. Some commonly cited reasons for this inability of
Nigerian software companies to take on projects with long development
cycles include the poor scalability of solutions due generally non
standardized processes and practices across many sectors, the absence
of capital to support long term development needed, widespread
deficiency of qualified personnel leading to high costs of hiring
seasoned developers as well as very high attrition rates as qualified
developers tend to hop from job to job or leave to start their own
companies. This entrepreneurial bent does not always serve the
industry well as many software companies in Nigeria are actually one
man businesses that focus on small projects for quick returns leading
to aggressive competition and high levels of commoditization of
certain basic skills. Further, the focus on short term gains and the
mad dash for self-controlled businesses among emergent developers is
linked to substandard work, dissatisfied clients and the preponderance
of untested software with grand performance claims but hardly able to
deliver as promised. This general absence of standards that is
essential to the growth of a sophisticated software industry cannot be
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better illustrated than through the substandard quality and escalating
rate of defacement of government websites over the past three years.
In summary, these and many other conditions have led to a situation
where Nigerian software companies can rarely compete in regional or
global software markets.
The current condition in the Nigerian software market makes for a
sweeping opportunity for many multinational software companies with
established brands and tested products that have been actively
developed in other nations’ industries which lack many of the
constraints prevalent in Nigeria (such as India, Brazil, etc). NOTAP
reports that imports of software may be costing Nigeria up to 1
billion dollars annually.
Recently, many global software companies have participated more
actively in grooming the local industry as part of their desire to
grow the local ecosystem and cultivate loyalty to their respective
platforms. Some multinational software companies with local presence
include Oracle, SAP, Microsoft and Google. The Federal Government of
Nigeria has long maintained partnerships with Microsoft Corporation
for the licensing of its software to government institutions as well
as for other collaborative efforts to grow the local ICT sector.
Network and Telecommunication providers: refers to companies involved
in the establishment, maintenance and administration of technologies
and equipment that enable interconnection between multiple devices and
systems. This market is characterised by high convergence between
internet service providers and mobile service providers. Nigeria has
seen an explosion in the use of mobile and internet services over the
past decade, a situation that led to the arrival of additional
submarine cables in Nigeria by 2010 and has subsequently improved the
amount of bandwidth available to over 45 million Nigerians (currently
26.5% penetration as at 2012). However, there is still a lot to be
done as the country still registers extremely high tariff per month of
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690 dollars for 100 kilobits a second connection and an extremely low
distribution of fixed high speed broadband internet at 0.3 subscribers
per 100 people. These conditions have led to a high degree of
dependence on mobile phones for internet connectivity, a trend across
most of Africa where the majority of people connecting to the internet
are doing so via mobile phones. Nigeria is the second largest mobile
market in Africa is growing at a fast rate. 25% of internet traffic
from Nigeria is from mobile phones, and 90% of 18 to 27 year old
Nigerians access the internet primarily from their mobile phones
rather than from computers. Some stakeholders in this area include
ALTON, NIRA and the Nigeria Internet Group.
The area of telecommunications has seen a much faster growth and
development as well as a fair amount of local content participation
across board. It is estimated that the telecommunications sector has
created over 5,000 direct jobs and 500,000 indirect jobs over the past
decade. In addition, there have been efforts to establish telecoms
engineering centres of excellence to increase the supply of highly
skilled local talent to support the fast growing sector.
Multinational companies play a key role in the value chain of the
networking and telecommunication industry with all telecommunication
and network equipment manufacturers and all but one telecommunication
service providers being multinational companies. The NCC works
actively to regulate the activities of the telecommunication aspect of
the sector, however, with the growing convergence of these
technologies there is still a lot to be done in the coming years to
grow the capability of the sector and its contribution to national
development targets..
Professional Services Providers: refer to companies involved in sales,
consultancy, systems implementation and integration, support and
maintenance of IT infrastructure. The past decade has seen a growth in
the number of boutique companies owned and controlled by Nigerian
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professionals created to meet the demand for professional services
relevant to different sectors of the economy.
Nevertheless, this area of the economy is still heavily dependent on
foreign expertise and multinationals. This is not surprising given
rapidly evolving trends in the software, hardware, networking and
telecommunications industries, which ultimately drive the need for
professional services across the economy. In the case of foreign
companies that have presence in Nigeria, local staff are mainly
engaged to aid market entry and to drive local sales while other
crucial activities in the value chain take place outside the country.
While there is a general recognition of the need to improve the number
of highly trained and capable Nigerian professionals in this space,
the sales focus of many multinationals does not do a lot to grow or
strengthen local capacity.
Similarly in the area of business to business transactions, much more
can be done to improve the capacity of Nigerian companies to serve the
needs of long established multinationals in various sectors, part of
the imperative behind the Nigerian Oil and Gas Development Law 2010.
Another critical local skills gap is the absence of qualified systems
integrators. This often leads to large wastes and failed technology
projects due to the inability of companies to effectively integrate
disparate technologies to meet unique local needs and is partly
responsible for the tendency of consumers to continuously procure new
technology rather than optimize and build on existing systems.
1.2.2 Analysis of Demand Side of the IT Sector
The following sections describe the demand side of the IT sector in
more detail and provide information about the major categories of
buyers active in the Nigerian IT market.
Retail consumer market: refers to the retail of IT and digital
products and services for personal use. Some of these products include
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personal computers, handhelds, mobile phones and related accessories
as well as a wide array of software and services that run on them.
Globally, this is a fast growing segment of the IT sector due to the
availability of low cost IT devices and more affordable Internet. In
Nigeria, recently considered one of the more optimistic markets in
Africa with respect to buyer sentiment, there is immense potential for
the growth of this market segment. Given the large population and
drawing a corollary from the high demand for mobile devices and
smartphones, as the economy improves Nigeria may well be on the cusp
of an explosion in demand for IT products. The Nigerian market is
also heavily biased towards consumption of IT, with over a third of
the population being youths, most of whom are eagerly welcoming of
western influenced media, entertainment and technology. Analysts
report that almost half of Nigerians above the age of 15 own mobile
phones with about 22% of mobile phones possessing Internet access
capabilities. Globally it is envisaged that in 2013 more smartphones
will be sold than feature phones. Although this is not yet the case in
Nigeria, as economic conditions improve there is a clear trend towards
the adoption of smartphones. At the same time, the National Bureau of
Statistics reports that only 5% of Nigerians have access to computers,
including publicly accessible cybercafés. This hints at the need to
ramp up ownership of personal computers across the country as well as
the creation of incentives that will drive Nigerians, especially
youth, to do more than simply consume content using these devices.
Enterprise market: refers to organisations and businesses that require
IT to support core strategic and operational activities. Globally,
this is the largest category of consumers as many sectors and
industries, such as banking and professional services, are heavily IT-
dependent. Consumers within this space in Nigeria comprise small and
medium scale businesses (SMBs) as well as large corporations and
multinational companies. And small, medium and large-scale vendors of
professional IT support services constitute the supply side of this
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market. The main difference between this market and the retail
consumer market is in the economic value generated from services
procured from vendors. Businesses rely heavily on information and
communication technologies to drive day-to-day operations, save time
and costs whilst improving productivity, communication and
collaboration. User demand and revenues generated within this space
has not yet been accurately measured, however if the growth in SMEs,
consumer packaged products, the retail banking industry and even
Nollywood and the entertainment industry can be used as a proxy
indicator, it can be extrapolated that there is a significant amount
of untapped potential in this market segment.
Public sector/government consumer: refers to MDAs and government
purchasers of various IT products and services. Globally, the public
sector is the third largest spender on IT, behind the enterprise
sector. In Nigeria, government is the single largest spender on IT.
Forrester Research reports that IT related purchases in the public
sector constitutes 23% of the total IT market, which comes to about
$320 million. Of this amount, hardware is 55% of the amount, services
is 22% and software constitutes the balance of 23%. Analysts further
report that expenditures on education and defense make up over half of
the total public sector IT expenditure in Nigeria. Global growth areas
such as healthcare and transportation constitute a mere 3% and 4% of
public sector spending, suggesting room for tremendous growth as other
macroeconomic indicators stabilize in the Nigerian polity over the
next few years.
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1.2.3 Analysis of Regulatory bodies in the IT Sector
The following sections describe the regulatory bodies active in IT
sector in more detail.
Ministry of Communication Technology
Created in 2011, the Ministry of Communication Technology is mandated
to foster a knowledge based economy and information society in
Nigeria. The Ministry was created to facilitate ICT as a key tool in
the transformation agenda for Nigeria in the areas of job creation,
economic growth and transparency of governance. The Ministry has five
agencies namely: National Communication Commission, National
Information Technology Development Agency, Nigerian Postal Service,
Nigerian Communications Satellite Company and Galaxy Backbone
Services.
National Information Technology Development Agency
NITDA was established by the provisions of the National information
Technology Development Agency Act (NITDA Act) of 2007 to regulate,
monitor, evaluate, and verify the progress of the development of the
Information Technology industry in Nigeria. NITDA is central to the
creation and promotion of this policy document.
1.3 Growth Potential of the Local Technology Industry
On a global basis, it is forecasted that IT purchases will total
$2,090 billion in 2013, up by 3.3% from $2,023 billion in 2012.
Software at $542 billion (26% of the total) remains the largest
category of global IT purchases. Computer equipment at $416 billion
(20%) is the second largest category. Professional services will be
the third largest at $404 billion (19%), with systems integration
project work having more than two-thirds of this market and strategy
and other consulting services a bit less than one-third. IT
outsourcing, including computer hardware support services, will be
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$399 billion (19%). Communications equipment at $328 billion (16%)
will be the smallest sector of IT spending (Forrester Research).
In Nigeria, the IT industry is currently estimated to be a $1.3
billion industry at current levels of technology penetration and
usage, with significant potential for further growth and expansion.
Hardware:
In 2012, about 750,000 personal computing units were sold in Nigeria
with only 10% sold by Nigerian OEMs. A significant proportion of OEMs
value chains exist outside the country, further reducing the local
impact of this economic activity. It can be projected that there is a
Total Available Market (TAM) in Nigeria of over 3 million computer
units to be harnessed over the next 4 years, valued at about 400
billion naira. Of this market, it is estimated that a third will be
captured by general consumers, another third by school based programs
for teachers and students and the balance made up of assisted PC
purchase programs and other forms of corporate procurement.
In addition, the hardware support market in Nigeria currently has an
estimated 80 billion naira potential, given global performance in this
sector. However, the infrastructural challenges peculiar to the
Nigerian context pose challenges to this vital sub-sector as
organisations are unable to deliver industry accepted service
standards and most crucial functions such as back up and disaster
recovery systems are outsourced to other countries. As the reforms in
the power industry gain traction, it is important that the interest be
cultivated for companies to move more hardware support services in-
country.
Software:
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Currently, Nigeria is largely dependent on foreign developed software
in most sectors as there is a massive mismatch in local needs and
capacity. NOTAP records that technology transfer agreements for the
importation of foreign software solutions and licenses, a fraction of
actual software purchases, has cost N25 billion in the past decade.
The software industry in Nigeria (internally alone) has a potential
worth as at 2013 of up to 110 billion naira annually. However, few
Nigerian software offerings are capable of competing in this market
and the high cost of foreign developed software, the absence of
adequate customisation to local realities and lax regulation on
intellectual property has left this market wide open to software
pirates, earning the nation a bad reputation globally. In addition,
local software companies are unable to effectively compete in the
global software industry, one of the most geographically dispersed
sectors that there is. The government has carried out several efforts
to change this by creating the National Software Development
Initiative, National Software Development Taskforce and the National
IT Policy as well as the establishment of a venture capital fund for
software development.
Network Services & Internet Access:
While Nigeria currently has the most people on the Internet in Africa,
an estimated 40% of the total Internet traffic on the continent, the
situation is far from favourable to further penetration and supporting
innovation. Nigerians spend most of their disposable income on
broadband connection. Currently, the costs of internet and mobile
services remain extremely high, with the ITU reporting that fixed-
broadband costs as a percentage of Gross National Income per capita
sits at 60.7% (in 2011), twice that of Ghana, 12 times that of
mainland China, India and South Africa, 120 times that of the USA and
300 times that of Macao, China. This current condition is despite
significant improvements that have occurred in the sector, including
consolidation among ISPs, entrants of fixed-wireless and mobile
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network operators into Internet service provision. The arrival of a
second international submarine fibre-optic cable (Glo-1) in 2009 and a
third one (Main One) in 2010 reduced the cost of international
bandwidth by 90%, but barely had an impact on the cost burden felt by
the Nigerian customer when consumer prices for broadband in developing
countries have continued fall at an average of 30% annually for the
past five years. There are however concerted efforts in this space by
the NCC and its arms, such as the USPF, notable of which include Wire
Nigeria (WIN), State Accelerated Broadband Initiative (SABI), Backbone
Infrastructure Project (BTRAIN) Pilot Project to deploy 500km of fibre
in the country, the Rural Broadband Initiative (RUBI) as well as the
planned opening up of the 2.5GHz frequency band for internet service
distribution.
1.4 Need for a Local Content Policy and National IT Guidelines
With the growing pressure of globalization, every government as well
as captains of industry are charged with the burden of finding ways to
ensure that their regions stay competitive and are capable of
fulfilling local demand. Not only that, but given the wide
availability of information technology being created to serve markets
world over, it is imperative that the right frameworks be created to
enhance the ability of indigenous companies to maximally explore and
exploit local opportunities, as well as remain competitive globally.
Local content aims to achieve the development of local skills,
technology transfer, use of local manpower and local manufacturing. It
is defined as the amount of incremental value added or created in
Nigeria through the utilisation of Nigerian human and material
resources for the provision of goods and services in the ICT industry
within acceptable quality and standards in order to stimulate the
development of indigenous capabilities.
While an indigenous company refers to any company with reasonable
presence of company representatives (other than sales) within Nigeria,
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a local (Nigerian) company is one formed and registered in Nigeria
under the Companies and Allied Matters Act 1990 with not less than 51%
equity shares owned by Nigerians. An indigenous firm or a foreign firm
can be regarded as a local company if the shareholding representation
of the entity is predominantly Nigerian.
1.4.1 Benefits
• Increased support for indigenous IT companies
• Increased amount of funds made available for investment in the
ICT sector
• Demonstration of short to medium term revenue streams for local
companies that will encourage them to expand their operations,
and its attendant positive impact on the economy
• Increased support for research and development of local companies
and improving their willingness to take business risks
• Curtailment and containment of current trends of massive capital
flight in IT industry
1.4.2 Risks
The creation of a local IT content policy as well as a set of national
guidelines:
• May be falsely construed as the government attempting to toy with
the free market and make it difficult for non-indigenous
companies to compete
• Could be interpreted as a condition that will make the Nigerian
market unwelcoming to foreign companies in the short term
• May lead to the creation of oligopolistic market place for IT
which will lead to higher cost for consumers and other ill
economic effects in the long run
• May encourage risky behavior among indigenous companies that may
negatively impact the industry in the long run
• Could lead to dissatisfaction of customers if local companies are
unable to deliver adequate choice and high quality services at
reasonable cost
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1.4.3 Balanced Perspective
The government has a primary responsibility to her citizens as they
look up to her for jobs and a means of sustenance. In fact, the hard
work of Nigerian entrepreneurs, trained professionals and other
stakeholders has to be supported and built upon as a priority. Such
efforts as this are key to national progress and long term stability
of the country. Some form of intervention is always needed by the
government to create a fertile ground for commerce to thrive. In this
case, this policy is targeted at growing the IT sector to a place of
prominence and major contribution to the Nigerian economy. We believe
that this can be done without harming the competitiveness of local
companies or making the country unwelcoming to foreign investors and
multinational companies. To this effect, this policy contains
provisions not much different from those in similar policy documents
that have been adopted by many other countries across the world
studied in its preparation.
1.5 Multinational Companies as enablers and partners
Rather than being a threat to the existence of multinational
companies, part of the targets of this policy document is to establish
the kind of competitive environment that will help foreign companies
meaningfully active in the Nigerian market to unlock hidden potential
and improve their capacity to innovate. To transform this sector,
there is crucial role that multinational companies need to play. Some
key reasons why the intentions of this policy cannot be achieved
without widespread participation across board and across national
boundaries are as follows:
1. Many multinationals own critical intellectual property rights and
remain the driving force behind the world’s most important
technology innovations
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2. Many multinationals will be critical in transferring knowledge
and technology that can engender the growth and maturity of the
local IT industry
3. Many multinationals hold the key to opening up indigenous
companies to foreign markets for export, business outsourcing and
other potential growth areas for the local IT industry
In short, efforts to grow the IT sector that alienate multinational
companies and overly obstruct the free market may fail or worse,
result in unforeseen circumstances and blowback in the ICT sector or
even unrelated sectors of the Nigerian economy. The onus lies on NITDA
to craft a role for these organizations to play, as well as for these
multinationals to proactively seek out ways to add greater value to
the Nigerian marketplace and its participants. Some ways that this may
be possible include:
1. Multinational companies showing greater commitment to their place
and potential in the Nigerian market by investing more
aggressively
2. Multinational companies registering Nigerian branches of their
companies with majority Nigerian shareholding to achieve greater
integration and participation in the local market as well as
enjoy privileges that accrue from an indigenous status
3. Multinational companies partnering with government and other
organizations to facilitate technology transfer to Nigerians in
order to be part of the next wave of growth that is on the
horizon for the Nigerian IT market
1.6 Role of Government and Regulatory Bodies
In order to achieve the objectives set out in this policy document,
some key actions have to be taken by government and regulatory bodies
in this sector. They are as follows:
1. Develop and support programs that will spur the growth and
development of a highly indigenous IT industry
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2. Provide funding for initiatives in this sector
3. Create support for innovation and new business creation by
providing incentives to Nigerian entrepreneurs
4. Establish platforms that promote the local IT industry and its
participants on an international stage
5. Work to strengthen existing legislations that govern the IT
industry in Nigeria
6. Support local companies towards the production of high quality
and genuine IT products and services that are suitable for the
Nigerian market
7. Champion efforts that protect the rights of the Nigerian consumer
of IT
8. Support the expansion of existing IT products and services into
native Nigerian languages
9. Support the full inclusion of all underserved populations
displaced by deficient infrastructure and environments through
the establishment of reasonable accommodations
10. Provide leadership and a harmonised vision and policy to be
shared by government organizations like National Copyright
Commission, Copyright Reform Expert Working Group; National
Office for Technology Promotion and Acquisition, etc with the
support of non-governmental and civil organizations like
Intellectual Property Institute, Nigerian Chapter of the World
Intellectual Property Organization, Copyright Society of Nigeria,
etc.
11. Work to spread education and promote the ideals of this
policy document
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2.0 The Content Policy Proposition
2.1 Policy Vision
The vision of this policy document as follows:
“Increase the amount of Nigerian content in Information Technology
products and services that target Nigerian customers and stimulate the
growth and development of a local IT industry capable of delivering
high quality and innovative products and services that possess
regional and global appeal”
2.2 Policy Objectives
The objectives of the IT local content policy include:
1 Enable the local IT industry to contribute meaningfully towards
the achievement of national development targets
2 Stimulate and increase the production, sales and consumption of
high quality, original and genuine information technology
products and services developed by indigenous companies that
serve the unique needs of the local and global market
3 Support indigenous information technology companies and provide
them opportunities that will improve their ability to provide
relevant products and services that amply satisfy the Nigerian
consumer.
4 Support efforts to build capacity and equip Nigerians to serve as
active workers and participants in the local IT industry
5 Promote the adoption of relevant regulation and legislation on
the creation, distribution and use of Information Technology
within Nigeria
6 Promote and encourage an environment within Nigeria that is
welcoming to foreign investments in Information and
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Communications Technology, as well as the export of indigenously
made IT goods and services
2.3 Strategic Policy Goals:
Goal 1: Achieve a thriving ICT industry that contributes significantly
to national development goals
Goal 2: Lay the foundations for a local ICT industry that can grow
sustainably and compete globally
Goal 3: Support and ensure technology transfer, indigenous
participation and the survival of indigenous companies in the ICT
sector
Goal 4: Provide relevant guidelines for the adoption of technology use
in critical sectors of the Nigerian economy
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2.4 Policy Framework
The framework of this policy document takes into consideration the
vision, objectives and strategic goals as well as the role of NITDA.
It is also tied directly into several performance measures that will
form the basis for tracking the progress and impact of the policy in
order to enable frequent stock taking and re-evaluation of strategies
and directives – an approach that is critical for policy in such a
fast paced and changing industry.
There are three core focus areas of this policy: driving indigenous
innovation, developing the local IT industry and establishing
Intellectual Property regulation and protection standards, each of
which has a set of related strategic goals. These strategic goals form
the basis of specific guidelines that include recommendations for the
restructuring of the industry and actions required by NITDA and other
government MDAs. They also create potential opportunities that local
companies are expected to take advantage of. Further, this document
provides a set of appropriate performance measures linked to the
achievement of the strategic goals.
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Figure 2.1: Policy Performance Measures
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Policy Strategic Goal Performance Measures
Policy on
Indigenous
Innovation
Achieve a thriving ICT
industry capable of
contributing to
national development
goals
• Real economic value
contributed by the
industry to the Nation’s
GDP
• Number and quality of
jobs created within the
industry
• Innovation &
Inventiveness of
Nigerians and Nigerian
companies
Policy on
development of the
IT industry
Lay the foundations
for thriving ICT
industry that can
compete globally
• Quality standards among
local ICT companies
• Self-sufficiency in the
value chains of
Indigenous companies
• Capacity Building
efforts in the industry
Policy on IP
regulation and
protection
Support technology
transfer, indigenous
participation and the
survival of local
players in the sector
• Amount of
funding/support
available for Indigenous
Companies
• Amount of Foreign Direct
Investments in the
industry
• Number of Innovation
Centers/ Centers of
Excellence
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• Number of global
partnerships for growth
Table 2.1: Policy Strategy and Goals Matrix
In addition to the policy set forth, this document will also address
the activities of government and the civil service in this sector by
providing a set of guidelines on various aspects of IT and technology
use to inform the practices of government going forward. Several
performance measures have also been identified to track the
achievement and adherence to the recommended practices set forward in
this document.
Guidelines Strategic Goal Performance Measures
Government and
Civil Service
guidelines
Provide relevant
guidelines to guide
technology use in
critical sectors
• Service delivery
• E-Government
• Transparency and justice
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3.0 Local Content Policy and Guidelines
3.1 Policy on Development of the Information Technology Industry
3.1.1 Policy Statement
Government shall deploy political will and national resources to
stimulate the development and growth of the local information
technology industry and all related sub-sectors in order to grow local
capacity, drive sustainable development and ensure national
competitiveness.
3.1.2 Policy Objectives
1. Support the growth and development of the local Information
Technology Industry
2. Manage and reduce the use of imported and outsourced digital
technologies in critical sectors of the economy
3. Provide backing for any efforts to build capacity for research,
design, development, manufacturing and production of hardware,
software, networking and data technologies that will benefit the
local industry
4. Build support for the local information technology industry among
government establishments and MDAs at all levels (Federal, State and
Local government)
5. Achieve the building of adequate human capacity to support the
information technology sector through championing effective
technology transfer
3.1.3 Policy Directives & Strategies: Hardware
a) All tiers of government to mandatorily source and procure all
computer hardware for which there is local capacity for
manufacturing, assembling, testing, deployment and maintenance.
b) In line with the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content
Development Act, 2010, all Oil and Gas companies are required to
actively source hardware from only local OEMs.
c) OEMs are to recapitalize and maintain a minimum capitalization of
Two Billion Naira and develop adequate capacity to meet demands
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for high quality products that will be generated by the Local
Content Policy.
d) NITDA will set a clear timeline for the implementation of the
minimum capitalization requirement for OEMs.
e) NITDA will require OEMs to have and maintain ISO 9001:2008 or any
other relevant quality certification in order to qualify for
recertification and revalidation. Existing OEMs will forfeit
their OEM status two years from the date of the announcement of
this requirement if they fail to obtain said certification
f) No new OEM will be registered or recognized by NITDA without a
quality certification or without the stipulated market
capitalization required.
g) NITDA will encourage and facilitate mergers, acquisitions,
partnerships or other forms of collaboration to strengthen the
capacity of local OEMS and other ICT firms.
h) The Minister will facilitate the grant of a five-year duty waiver
on components procured by local OEMs so as to ensure the
competitiveness of local products.
i) NITDA will work together with the Ministry and The Honourable
Minister to provide incentives for private organizations to
patronize and purchase locally assembled or manufactured hardware
by providing tax deductions for private organizations that
purchase locally assembled products.
j) NITDA will institute stiff sanctions and penalties against OEMs
who fall short of expected service levels and quality
requirements.
k) Dispute resolution between OEMs and NITDA will be settled through
expedited arbitration.
l) NITDA to facilitate and lead Computer Assisted Purchase Programs
by providing zero Interest loans to students, teachers and other
interest groups that might help stimulate innovation and economic
growth.
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m) NITDA together with the Ministry to encourage multinational OEMs
to register Nigerian entities that will have predominant Nigerian
representation in keeping with the local content Act.
n) The Minister will facilitate the provision of tax breaks, duty
waivers and level playing field for MNCs who plan to set up
assembly plants in Nigeria. Special considerations and incentives
to be given to any ODM setting up locally.
3.1.4 Policy Directives & Strategies: Software
a) NITDA will enforce the provisions set forward in the National
Software Policy
b) All tiers of government to mandatorily source software for which
there is local capacity to design, develop, compile, test,
troubleshoot, launch, maintain and improve such software
application.
c) All tiers of government to source and procure software from only
local and indigenous software development companies; where the
capacity for developing such software does not exist locally,
procurement, installation and support will be provided by a Nigerian
company.
d) All tiers of government to use locally developed systems for generic
functions such as finance, HR, inventory management, etc. A waiver
must be obtained from NITDA by any agency requiring an imported
application outside of operating system license and basic office
productivity tools.
e) In accordance with the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content
Development Act, 2010; Oil and Gas companies and Service companies
are to procure local software for their operations and to make
representation to The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring
Board for software which cannot be procured locally.
f) NITDA will promote and facilitate the creation of specialized
software firms through incubation or funding programs so as to
increase local participation in highly sophisticated systems design
and development.
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g) NITDA will work with industry stakeholders to encourage local
software firms to form international partnerships for research and
product development.
h) NITDA will carry out risk-based due diligence to identify, prevent
and mitigate actual and potential adverse impacts that may arise
from using software, including risks that arise from technical
dependencies on software conceptualized and developed outside
Nigeria.
i) NITDA will promote awareness of the origin, source and workings of
software being used by the government, including adequate access to
ascertain the full security of elements of codes.
j) For off-the-shelf applications such as advanced engineering software
and other sophisticated systems that cannot as yet be developed
locally, NITDA will mandate compliance with the Nigerian Oil and Gas
Industry Content Development Act, 2010 by ensuring that the
implementation of such systems is carried out by duly registered
Nigerian companies.
k) NITDA will work with technology platform companies such as Intel,
Microsoft, Google, Facebook and Apple to help Nigerian companies
develop for such platforms and ensure that the country transitions
from being a consumer to a producer of technology.
l) NITDA will require platform technology companies to submit a Local
Content Development Plan for their platforms to be utilized or
deployed by government agencies. This will include desktop, server,
cloud, social media and mobile platforms companies such as
Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Twitter, Apple, etc.
3.1.5 Policy Directives & Strategies: Telecommunications, Network &
Internet Services
a) All tiers of government will source telecommunications, network and
Internet services for which there are local capacity to setup up,
maintain, monitor, optimize and access mandatorily from local
service providers with capacity to deploy such.
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b) All tiers of government and all agencies under them will host their
websites and other web services mandatorily on the.gov.ng domain as
the only approved domain.
c) All tiers of educational institutions will mandatorily host their
websites and other web services on the.edu.ng as their primary
domain.
d) NITDA in partnership with NIRA will promote the .ng TLD and advocate
for businesses and private organizations to migrate to the .ng
domain.
e) NITDA will work in partnership with CBN, Financial Institutions and
Payment platform companies such as PayPal, Google Wallet, VISA,
MasterCard, Interswitch, Verve, etc. to ensure that Nigerian
merchants and consumers are able to transact and receive payments on
the internet from anywhere in the world.
f) NITDA will promote awareness of the origin, source, paths and
workings of telecommunications, network and internet services being
used by the government, including adequate access to ascertain the
full security of communications being sent through such platforms.
3.1.6 Policy Directives & Strategies: Data & Information Management
a) NITDA and other arms of government will support efforts to improve
local capacity to setup up, maintain, monitor, optimize and access
government data and information as well as meet potential future
information management needs
b) NITDA will promote awareness of appropriate data formats, database
technologies, computer security and other data and information
technologies that will be used by the government and the civil
service in order to achieve the right degree of security
c) NITDA will promote as mandatory the presence of system logs and
other computer data logging technologies to aid in the effective
troubleshooting and forensic investigation of events in government
and civil service systems
d) The Heads of each and every government MDA shall be responsible for
ensuring that reasonable care is taken to adequately secure the data
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and information of government and civil service that is created,
transferred and stored in digital formats
e) NITDA will ensure that all government data is hosted locally within
the country and all government agencies without exemptions will
comply with this directive.
f) NITDA will promote and support local data hosting firms and set
appropriate service level requirements and standards for data
service provisioning for such firms.
3.1.7 Policy Directives & Strategies: Professional Services
a) All tiers of government will mandatorily source implementation,
integration and maintenance services from local professionals/
professional service firms who possess the required technical
knowledge and capacity to setup up, maintain, monitor, optimize and
access hardware, software, telecommunications, network and internet
systems, data and information management systems, etc.
b) NITDA will promote awareness of the origin, source, paths and
workings of implementation, integration and maintenance services
being used by the government, including ascertain the full
legitimacy of companies and organizations that will be privy to data
and systems owned by the government and the civil service.
3.2 Policy on Intellectual Property Regulation and Protection
3.2.1 Policy Statement
To establish an appropriate regulatory regime and work with
existing agencies to oversee issues regarding the ownership of IT
including the protection of intellectual properties, copyrights
and derivative works.
3.2.2 Policy Objectives
1. Promote the enforcement of appropriate intellectual property
protection for content creators in order to maintain reasonable
incentive to constant innovation and production
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2. Promote the recognition of traditional safety valves and other
mechanisms that protect the general public and indigenous content
creators from overreaching intellectual property and copyright
mechanisms
3. Ensure decent limitations on the intervention by government or
companies into the private lives of Nigerians, except for lawful and
necessary purposes
4. Collaborate with other government agencies to promote the
recognition and adherence of applicable regulations within Nigeria
on all digital platforms
5. Champion the passage of legislation that promotes the best interest
of consumers as well as creators of IT products and services.
3.2.3 Policy Strategies & Directives
1. NITDA to work with the National Copyright Commission towards the
implementation of the treaties of the WIPO, as well as drive the
local adaptation of specific provisions
2. NITDA to work with the National Copyright Commission, Copyright
Reform Expert Working Group; National Office for Technology
Promotion and Acquisition, as well as with non-governmental and
civil organizations like Intellectual Property Institute, Nigerian
Chapter of the World Intellectual Property Organization, Copyright
Society of Nigeria, etc. to achieve the harmonization of
intellectual property rights so as to provide an incentive for
innovators and creators.
3. NITDA to support and effect the rights of authors, including
mandating cooperation of hosting companies, internet service
providers (ISPs) and other intermediaries to take down materials
that infringe copyrights, trademark or other forms of intellectual
property
4. NITDA to champion the establishment of legislation that discourages
digital piracy, phishing, identity theft and other forms of illegal
activity perpetrated on digital platforms.
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5. ISPs and other service providers must provide the rights to
consumers to delete their personal information, data and other
records on any service on which they are subscribed
6. NITDA to establish programs that increase awareness of consumer
rights and appropriate expectations from content creators among the
general public
3.3 Policy on Indigenous Innovation
3.3.1 Policy Statement
Government shall deploy political will and national resources
with support of the private sector to prioritize the sourcing of
Information Technology products and services first from
indigenous providers and then from global providers with
significant local presence in order to stimulate growth of the
nation’s emerging digital economy and provide jobs and encourage
entrepreneurship.
3.3.2 Policy Objectives
1. Create an environment highly supportive of innovation by indigenous
companies
2. Offer incentives to promote the growth, development and expansion of
indigenous creators of IT products and services
3. Build local capacity in Information Technology product and service
creation through patronage and paying closer attention to the origin
of IT goods and services being procured by government MDAs
4. Demand and support the improvement of quality standards of IT goods
and services available locally
5. Support the Nigerian IT industry by contributing to build the
perception of quality among local consumers and regional and global
markets
6. Leverage locally available IT goods and services to contribute
towards the preservation of Nigerian culture and indigenous way of
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doing things in order to strengthen the peoples’ identity as
Nigerians
7. Enable adequate contextualization and localization of foreign
Information Technologies, systems and platforms being used by
Nigerians regularly
8. Support the development of platforms that give improve the
visibility of participants in the local IT industry locally and
internationally
3.3.3 Policy Strategies & Directives
1. NITDA will work with other arms of government, private organizations
and multinational companies to establish technology incubation
programs, start-up communities, ICT clusters and other IT
development networks to stimulate the growth of the sector
2. NITDA will work with other arms of government to fund and support
university based programs to drive innovation and invention in
information technology using existing funds set aside for the
purpose and by setting up of special intervention funds as may be
necessary
3. NITDA will work with other arms of government and the legislature to
support the enactment of other related policies to reduce
bureaucracies associated with doing business in Nigeria as well as
other efforts required to make Nigeria desirable as a location for
innovation and growth
4. NITDA will work with other arms of government to provide and support
platforms that foster the growth and development of participants in
the local IT industry and provide visibility for their products and
services
5. NITDA will work with other arms of government, private organizations
and multinational companies to specifically support social
entrepreneurship start-up companies that are created to address
special needs and critical concerns of society
6. NITDA will hold conferences, tradeshows, exhibitions and other
platforms that will enable local companies to export locally created
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IT products and services across the economic sub-region, the
continent and the globe
7. NITDA will collaborate with SON to develop a quality certification
for IT goods and services that meet the local content requirements
of this this policy
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3.4 Guidelines for Local Content Development in IT
3.4.1 Overview
The guidelines set below are recommendations addressed by NITDA to all
branches of government & all industry participants. Adherence to these
guidelines will ensure that the operations of government and all other
stakeholders are in harmony with this policy document in order to
contribute to the attainment of the objectives set forth. The
guidelines set forward provide principles and standards for dealing
with IT local content development. They are consistent with this
policy as well as applicable laws and best practice. Furthermore,
matters covered by the guidelines may become the subject of further
legislation, national law and other international commitments.
3.4.2 Indigenous Firm Recognition
Companies must fulfil certain criteria to benefit fully from the local
content development policy and compliance with these guidelines is
essential for on-going recognition by NITDA and other agencies.
1. A Nigerian company is one formed and registered in Nigeria under
the Companies and Allied Matters Act 1990 with not less than 51%
equity shares owned by Nigerians.
2. NITDA encourages MNCs to register their organizations within
Nigeria at the Corporate Affairs Commission and maintain actively
operating entities in Nigeria.
3. The operating entities for MNCs are required to be more than
sales divisions, management of sales agents and channels. They
are to carry out value adding activities in country that
contribute to job creation and the empowerment of Nigerians who
comprise their market.
4. OEMs certified by NITDA will be required to recertify every four
years. Recertification will be based on the following conditions:
a. OEM must hold and maintain a minimum market capitalization
base of two billion Naira only
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b. OEMs must maintain local capacity for the production of
multiple form factors – desktops, laptops, tablets, and
smartphones either directly or through a local ODM.
c. OEM must hold and maintain product and possess quality
certifications such as ISO 14001, ISO 9001 at local
facilities and for scope including design, manufacturing,
sales and maintenance of various products being sold in the
Nigerian market.
d. OEMs will be given a grace period of two years from the
effective date of this policy to comply with the
recertification criteria herein stated.
5. NITDA will also create an ODM status for computer assembly
plants. The criteria for certifying an ODM will be as follows:
a. ODMs must hold and maintain a minimum market capitalization
base of five billion Naira only
b. ODMs must maintain local capacity to assemble and install
minimum of one million devices per annum for multiple form
factors – desktops, laptops, tablets, and smartphones
either directly or through a local ODM.
c. ODMs must hold and maintain product and possess quality
certifications such as ISO 14001, ISO 9001 at local
facilities and for scope including design, manufacturing,
sales and maintenance of various products being sold in the
Nigerian market.
6. Software development companies would be required to hold and
maintain CMM or ISO 9001 or any other standard certification that
may be required by NITDA for them to qualify for large scale
(enterprise) software development bids.
7. Systems Integrators and Software consulting firms will also be
required to meet minimum certifications as will be determined by
NITDA for them to qualify to bid on large scale e-government
deployments.
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3.4.2 IT Capacity Development
The availability of the necessary skill set required for local content
value creation is critical to the success of this policy. Educational
institutions, entrepreneurs and companies must be empowered to become
productive. The guidelines aims at creative means of building
skillsets for Nigerians to be active participants in the sector by
creating environments that nurtures and aids the adoption of
information, knowledge and technology at a fast rate whilst at the
same time encouraging investments in the sector:
1. NITDA to encourage specialization in different areas and provide
funding for the setup of centres of excellence in select
universities and higher institutions. e.g. Software Development
Centre of Excellence; Network Infrastructure Centre of
Excellence; Web Development Centre of Excellence; Mobile
Computing Centre of Excellence; etc
2. NITDA to champion the setup of the University of Information
Technology to lead the study of and research in IT.
3. NITDA to set up a special task force on commercialization of
university research activities in order to facilitate and
encourage entrepreneurship and skills development out of Nigerian
universities
4. NITDA to engage NUC and NERDC on extensive curriculum review
efforts to equip students with skills that are sought after by
the industry
5. NITDA to work with and partner with MNCs to establish research
and training institutes for key aspects of the IT sector
6. NITDA to partner with a Nigerian university to establish a
Journal of Information Technology in Sub-Saharan Africa and
establish 100 million naira annual grant and research fund to
sponsor academic research projects being conducted by Nigerian
scholars and educational institutions across the world which
focus on developing the IT sector in the country.
7. NITDA to work with the Nigerian Immigrations Service and Ministry
of Foreign Affairs to facilitate the issuance of visas for
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businesses, entrepreneurs and investors wishing to explore
opportunities within the country.
8. NITDA to work with the FIRS to prepare a gazette that provides
easy to distil knowledge and information about local taxation
policies, specifically for prospective investors in the ICT
industry
9. NITDA to establish a working group on eLearning in partnership
with the Open University of Nigeria with the objective of
expanding offerings of online classes within Nigeria as well as
to take advantage of the wealth of free online education classes
available across the globe.
3.4.3 Funding and Capital Sourcing
The lack of adequate funding is the most common stumbling block for
start-ups in general. In Nigeria, we have not established the culture
of funding ideas and concepts and bank loans are prohibitive for
technology start-ups. The role of the government and its associated
agencies cannot be overemphasized for us to become a start-up friendly
nation. We need to consciously craft pro-business and supportive
environments conducive to entrepreneurs who want to start technology
businesses here. The government will provide multiple initiatives to
enable start-ups to gain access to funding:
1. NITDA to properly constitute the administration of the NITDEF
with a Director acting as Secretary of the fund to oversee the
day-to-day administration of the funds.
2. In accordance with the NITDA act, the board of the NITDEF to be
constituted as follows:
a. The Minister of Communication Technology as the Chairman of
Board
b. The Chairman of NITDA as the Vice Chairman of Board
c. The DG of NITDA as a Member of Board
d. Representative of National Planning Commission as a Member
of Board
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e. Representative of Ministry of Finance as a Member of Board
f. Representative of Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission
as a Member of Board
g. Four credible and knowledgeable individuals from the
Private Sector to be selected as Members of the Board
3. At least 80% of the fund to be focused on Software and Mobile
development as well as direct IT Capacity building initiatives.
4. At least 60% of the fund would be channelled towards start-ups
and new product developments, this may be in form of seed capital
or grant for start-ups or through incubation programs or other
forms of government-backed equity schemes.
5. NITDEF to provide fund through a Seed Capital / Cash Grant
Program for start-ups to provide funding for the pilot of ideas /
concepts in order to enable start up develop prototype products
that can subsequently generate investor interest. This will be
for amounts not exceeding 5 million naira. The leadership of
NITDEF will develop the modality for the administration of the
Seed Capital program.
6. NITDEF will lead a Government Backed Equity Financing Scheme to
allow established IT businesses and products requiring huge
capital investment to scale. The criteria for qualifying firms
will be decided by NITDEF before the scheme becomes functional.
7. NITDA will champion and encourage the set-up of Business
Incubator Schemes to accelerate the growth of the IT industry.
8. NITDA will partner with financial institutions, venture capital
firms, MNCs with venture capital divisions as well Angels
investors to create a vibrant Venture Capital ecosystem for the
IT sector
9. NITDA will catalyse the capital growth of the industry by
stimulating, fostering and encouraging mergers and acquisitions
as well as foreign direct investments in the IT sector.
3.4.4 Product Development
The process of IT product development for both hardware and software
is one that must be focused on to ensure quality, safety and security.
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To consistently generate demands for local products, building quality
into products and verifying the achieved quality level becomes a
necessity:
1. NITDA will work with leading global quality organizations such
as ISO, American Society for Quality, Lean Enterprise
Institute, etc with the involvement of the Standards
Organization of Nigeria (SON) and local industry groups (ITAN,
NCS, ISPON etc.) to hold conferences and trainings to assist
organizations to improve quality standards
2. NITDA will work towards the creation of a special fund in
partnership with leading financial institutions to finance
expansion efforts of any existing certified OEM or groups of
OEMs who desire to grow their company into ODM status
3. NITDA will work with NOTAP and other stakeholders towards
establishing an annual conference for the growth of small and
medium scale manufacturing in the Information Technology
industry.
3.4.5 Demand Generation
The perception of local products is quite weak in the market, more so
in the IT sector where our processes are not as yet mature. To
generate demand for local products, both government and industry
players have a duty to drive awareness and interest in local products.
Incentives will also have to be provided to private firms and
individuals who buy Nigerian products:
1. Government IT based procurement to have a local content focus.
All hardware products such as servers and computers must be
purchased locally.
2. NITDA will certify all government based IT procurement for
local content compliance before a certificate of no objection
is issued by the BPP.
3. NITDA to lead and facilitate product demand generation
initiatives such as Assisted PC purchase programs
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4. NITDA to reach out and collaborate with similar IT development
agencies in neighbouring West African states in order to
establish regional Information Technology tradeshows that will
provide a platform to grow the local industry
5. NITDA to facilitate and promote the use of digital
technologies as well as local development of software
solutions for Education by facilitating Computer purchase
programs, provide funding for software solutions in education
and drive technology adoption initiatives in education.
6. NITDA to facilitate and promote the use of digital
technologies as well as local development of software
solutions for the Health industry.
7. NITDA will work with the Federal Ministry of Health to design
and determine data formats for a National Electronic Health
Record System and thereafter, encourage the adoption of EHR
across all tiers of health systems in Nigeria.
3.4.6 Support and Maintenance
A key aspect of this policy initiative is the need to grow local
capacity to support and maintain existing technology at all levels of
complexity and involvement.
1. Preference to be given to companies with existing hardware
support facilities and functional service stations with
impressive customer service metrics measured frequently
2. Government procurement contract – support and maintenance to
be included as a cost item in BOQ for government deployments.
3. Software development firms will be required by regulation to
provide on-going support and continued development and
maintenance of software sold or deployed.
4. Technology deployment will be considered as turnkey
deployments and not mere supply of components and systems
integration capability must be demonstrable for a vendor to
qualify for large-scale deployments.
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3.4.7 Fiscal and Regulatory Support
1. NITDA to work with NIPC to make IT companies eligible for
existing tax relief for Research and Development activities for
multinational companies, a fiscal incentive which allows up to
120 per-cent of qualifying expenses on R&D to be tax deductible
2. NITDA to work with NIPC to make IT companies eligible for tax
relief for long term R&D on Local raw materials, a fiscal
incentive which allows up to 140 per-cent of expenses on
patentable research to be tax deductible. Also, minimum local raw
material usage quotas and other details necessary for the
enactment of the policy in the IT industry should be determined.
3. NITDA to work with NIPC and other bodies to propose additional
tax credits specifically for the IT industry, including declaring
the software industry and other IT related fields at the cusp of
explosion (Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, etc) of ‘pioneer
status’ and align the industry with existing tax codes.
4. NITDA to work with FIRS to ensure effective implementation of
these fiscal policies in tax reporting practice to the benefit of
multinational companies and local companies in the IT industry
within Nigeria.
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4.0 Policy Performance Measurement
It is recommended that impact of this policy is evaluated regularly to
ensure that the objectives laid out are being achieved and to inform
further changes in strategy to support the morphing interests of all
stakeholders. This policy measurement should be done using
qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods in order to carry out
analysis of progress being made. This section of the draft policy
presents some guidelines for monitoring and evaluating the impact of
this policy as well as recommended metrics to be used.
4.1 Guidelines for Monitoring and Evaluation of the Policy
The following general guidelines are to be followed when monitoring
and evaluating the impact of this policy on the IT industry in
Nigeria. Efforts to evaluate the impact of this policy:
1. Should address the question of whether a cause and effect
relationship can be established between the recommendations of the
policy and both intended/ unintended outcomes
2. Should have clearly defined participants and non-participants
(treatment and control group) and a sufficiently large sample size
to improve the validity of any inferences made to the IT industry at
large
3. Should employ a mixed method approach as much as possible i.e. a
combination of both qualitative and quantitative methods.
4. Should leverage and have synergy with existing globally recognizable
databases for data sources, such as the World Bank, UNDP, ITU, etc.
4.2 Metrics for Measuring this Policy
There are four areas of impact that can be easily identified, in line
with the objectives of this policy document and previously identified
performance goals. They are as follows:
1. Impact on the Nation’s economy
2. Impact on the well-being of society
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3. Impact on public sector and governance
4. Impact on the ICT industry and its participants
The following table captures metrics for measurement of the impact of
this policy, distributed into the four categories of impact.
Impact Category Performance
Goals
Metric for measurement
Impact on the
Nation’s Economy
Contribution to
GDP
• Contribution of Information
Technology sector to GDP
• Contribution of IT Hardware
and Manufacturing to GDP
• Contribution of IT Service
Industry to GDP
Job Creation • Number of jobs created in
the IT industry
Innovation • Number of ICT related
patents and copyrights
issued
• Evidence of quality
collaboration between
educational institutions
and industry
• Ranking and recognition of
researchers and research
institutes within Nigeria
Self-Sufficiency • Ratio of ICT Goods Exports
to ICT Goods Imports
• Ratio of local ICT
investment to Foreign ICT
investment
• Activities in ICT value
chains of local firms
migrated in-country
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Impact on the
well-being of
Society
Network Access • Coverage of fixed
broadband, internet and
network access nationwide
(percentage area)
• Internet users (per 100
people)
• International Internet
bandwidth per capita (bits
per person)
• Secure internet servers
(per 1 million people)
Affordability • Fixed broadband internet
access tariff per month
• Fixed-broadband sub-basket
as a % of GNI per capita
IT Literacy and
Adoption
• Personal computers (per
100)
Cybercrime • Number of reported cases of
cybercrime
• Number of prosecuted
cybercriminals
Impact on Public
Sector and
Governance
Service Delivery • Range of services offered
by government supported by
IT
• Government IT Capability
Maturity Assessment
E-Government • Number of successful e-
government initiatives
Justice &
Transparency
• Citizens’ perception of
transparency
• Freedom of Information Act
Compliance rates of
government agencies
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Impact on ICT
Industry and
Participants
Standards and
Quality
• Measurements of Consumer
Perception of quality
• Total amount of ICT exports
• Ratio of private market
purchase of local ICT goods
to public sector market
purchase of local ICT goods
Local Capacity • Total OEM production
capacity
• Total number of individuals
with software application
design and development
capability
• Total number of individuals
with database management
capabilities
• Total number of individuals
with information system
security management
capabilities
• Total number of individuals
with computer networking
capability
• Total number of individuals
with web design and web
application development
capability
• Total number of individuals
with graphic and multimedia
design and development
capability
• Total number of companies
with systems integration
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capabilities
• Total number of companies
with network and data
center management
capabilities
• Total number of companies
with ICT training and
practice capabilities
Funding/ Support
for New and
Existing
Ventures
• Total amount of private
sector venture capital
funding
• Total amount of public
sector venture support
funding
• Utilization Ratio of
venture capital funding
(Ratio of funding available
to funding issued)
• Estimated capitalization of
top 50 indigenous ICT
companies
Foreign Direct
Investments
• Number of foreign ICT
companies with local
presence
• Number of foreign ICT
companies with appreciable
local content (cannot be
just marketing and sales)
Innovation /
Centers of
Excellence
• Number of innovation
centers, business
incubation centers and
other centers of excellence
Global • Number of partnerships with
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partnerships for
growth
global ICT advocacy and
promotion groups
4.3 Recommendations for Policy Review
It is recommended that this policy be reviewed every four years in
order to improve it constantly, enable responsiveness to the rapidly
changing Information Technology landscape and continuously improve
national strategy. The primary purpose of policy review activities
include the following:
A. Responsiveness to emerging trends in the global ICT industry:
given the rapidly changing landscape of this sector, it may be
necessary to take into consideration particular trends and
occurrences in the global ICT industry that may have significant
implications for the achievement of the objectives.
B. Responsiveness to changes in local IT industry: as the gains of
this policy are realized, further changes may be made to increase
the opportunities available to indigenous companies and support
further growth of the industry.
C. Review of policy performance: the development of any policy is an
organic process. It is imperative that insights from periodic
reviews of the impact of the policy are captured and form inputs
to inform future revisions of this policy document.
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Appendix 1: Government & Civil Service Guidelines
Overview
The guidelines set below are recommendations addressed by NITDA to all
branches of government & the civil service at all tiers. Adherence to
these guidelines will ensure that the operations of government and the
civil service are in harmony with this policy document in order to
contribute to the attainment of the objectives set forth. The
guidelines set forward provide voluntary principles and standards for
dealing with IT during the carrying out of the regular business of the
government and civil service. They are consistent with this policy as
well as applicable laws and best practice. Furthermore, matters
covered by the Guidelines may become the subject of further
legislation, national law and other international commitments.
e-Government
One of the greatest impact areas of technology yet to be fully
harnessed in Nigeria is the opportunity to improve the quality of
service delivery by government using online service offerings. As MDAs
across the country move to implement this on varying scales, the
following objectives should be shared:
A. Leverage Information Technology to make government services
accessible to more people
B. Adopt a citizen focused approach to current government wide IT
policies and programs
C. Define and deliver performance increases that matter to citizens
D. Communicate policies within and across agencies
E. Participate actively in the development of standards that can be
replicated at all levels of government
e-Education
Education is critical to the success of this policy. First, it
provides the only way of building skillsets for Nigerians to be active
participants in the sector, it is an environment nurtured to aid the
adoption of information, knowledge and technology at a fast rate and
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also there have been manifold investments in the sector over the past
decade. E-Education forms one of the pillars of this policy with the
following objectives:
A. Leverage Information Technology to make high quality education
accessible to more people
B. Include teachers and administrators as partners in the design of
e-learning projects in order to achieve the needed level of buy
in
e-Health
One of the more recent interventions of ICTs in critical sectors is
the impact on health service delivery. The potential to replace
physical presence of trained medical personnel with information in
less severe and life threatening situations, with a view to improving
the efficiency of the health care system as a whole is often
classified as e-health. The following objectives must exist for e-
health efforts:
A. Leverage Information Technology to make health services
accessible to more people
B. Define and deliver performance increases that matter to patients
and citizens
C. Leverage Information Technology to make timely health data
available to health practitioners
Guidelines for IT Project Implementation in e-Government, e-
Education and e-Health
Justifying Projects
Justifying the selection of projects is often a challenging task to
do, more so in the public sector and government. The following have
been identified as useful guidelines to include as part of project
justification in order to enhance harmonization with this policy
document.
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1. Ensure that the voices of key stakeholders are captured early in the
project selection stage
2. Ensure that the project holds significant tangible and intangible
benefits for stakeholders
3. Ensure that the project targets stakeholders that have been
chronically underserved by previous investments
4. Ensure that the investment increases public protection, health,
education, environment, and safety
5. Ensure that the project holds the potential for not only short term
benefits but significant mid-term and long-term benefits for all
stakeholders
6. Ensure that the project is in line with mid to long range strategic
targets of the government, including relevant transformation agendas
such as Vision 20:2020 and international development goals such as
the Millennium Development Goals
In-House projects vs. Outsourcing
The decision to outsource projects to external parties must be made
carefully considering the loss of control and decline in autonomy that
arises from relying on external expertise from private for-profit
organizations. Government has a responsibility to build the needed
capacity – technical, human resource, financial, etc - within the
service to deliver on critical services required at all levels. Some
useful guidelines are as follows:
1. Adequate controls should be put in place to protect the success of
the project and ensure that priorities and objectives of
stakeholders, sponsors and implementing partners are shared
2. Efforts should be made to take into account direct and indirect
costs when preparing financial estimates for a project using Total
Cost of Ownership measurements as well as working with multiple
sources to confirm the expediency of taking a particular approach
(making i.e. in-house projects or buying i.e.
outsourcing/contracting)
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Project Management Guidelines
Project Initiation
1. A suitable project sponsor should be identified during the
initiation phase of the project
2. All stakeholders should be identified during initiation and key
stakeholders contacted and co-opted into the planning of the project
early in the initiation phase
3. Communications requirements, information security policies and
required authorizations should be defined at the project initiation
phase
4. Effective data and information management practices should commence
during the initiation phase
Project Planning
1. Extensive definition of roles should be carried out in order to
create room for involvement of all stakeholders
2. There should be a clear definition of needed controls, checks and
balances commensurate with the degree of sensitivity of the project
to aid in a hitch free implementation of project phases
3. In planning the project, implementing partners must be vetted in
accordance with the requirements of this policy document, government
seculars and other applicable regulations as stipulated by the
Bureau for Public Procurement (BPP)
4. Metrics, KPIs and measures to be monitored and controlled should be
determined during the planning phase of the project in line with the
project objectives and scope
Project Monitoring and Controlling
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1. Project monitoring and controlling should be done to track the
progression of the project, deal with deviations from the project
plan and bring potential challenges to light as soon as they emerge
2. Related projects should be continuously benchmarked against each
other to provide meaningful input that can improve the quality of
project delivery
Project Closing
1. A project should not be deemed as closed until an official hand off
has been done to the relevant stakeholder and a reflection process
is carried out. The reflection process may include measuring
implementation success, archiving relevant documentation, reflecting
on future activities and sharing lessons learned for future
reference
2. Project success must be measured against the objectives which were
meant to be achieved and not merely against achievement of project
milestones or completion of work packages and deliverables
3. The performance of implementing partners should be captured and
recorded to inform future decisions to involve them in other
projects
Project Implementation Guidelines
Selection of implementation companies
1. The selection of implementation companies for projects should be in
line with the policy and strategies stated in section other sections
of this policy document.
Knowledge Transfer
1. It is the responsibility of organizations sponsoring projects to
institute mechanisms for effective knowledge transfer into their
organizations during and as a result of the execution of projects
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Project Sustainability Guidelines
Pre-project
The time spent preparing and planning for a project yields more
successful outcomes for complex projects. As part of the initiatives
to entrench sustainability in the design and implementation of
projects, it is essential to carry out key steps in the time leading
up to the commencement of the project.
Stakeholder participation and engagement
1. Achieving stakeholder participation and engagement before the
commencement of any project is critical to uncovering key insights
and refining approaches that can improve the chances of project
success. Project sustainability, on the other hand, is impossible
without the active cooperation of willing and interested stakeholder
groups.
2. Attempts must be made to lead projects by emphasizing a shared
vision and making efforts at creating value for all stakeholders
involved
3. As much as possible, solutions should be arrived at from bottom-up
collaboration and mutual cooperation between affected parties
4. Coalition building is critical to successful stakeholder
collaboration through engendering trust between multiple parties and
nurturing agreement on plans of action
5. Efforts should be made to forge powerful individuals, the talented
few, interest groups, companies and organizations and trade
associations into cross-sector coalitions and networks with a shared
common agenda that can champion mutually beneficial causes through
mutually reinforcing actions and peer support
Post-project
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At the close of project implementation, efforts should be made to
disseminate important lessons learned across coalitions and networks
in order to improve the entire system and support the advancement of
the economy. Through such efforts, the seeds of cooperation can be
sewn, even among competitors, further advancing the entire group. More
opportunities should be created for these mutually beneficial
exchanges to occur.
Maintenance and support
1. Maintenance and support contracts should include service level
expectations and other measurable goals by which performance can be
measured
2. Maintenance and support contracts should be subjected to periodic
review to ensure that laid out goals are being met and the provider
is improving in its quality of delivery and support
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