FG commends Zinox, assures of local content devt

The Director-General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Dr. Ibrahim Pantami, said the Federal Government is set to correct the imbalance in local content consumption by supporting indigenous capacities in the IT sector.

He noted that increasing local content adoption is not the only focus, but also ensuring that a major percentage of indigenous technology software and products are exported to other African countries.

Dr. Pantami during a courtesy call to the headquarters of Zinox in Lagos, said the IT firm has the capacity to compete with other global tech giants and extend its products and solutions beyond Nigeria to other markets.

“Zinox as an indigenous technology giant with human capital potentials and technological prowess to grow the adoption of local content in Nigeria has the resources, products, human capital and sheer equipment capacity to take the lead in this area.

“In addition to the excellent work done with INEC in improving the electoral process in Nigeria, we are aware of the acceptance of Zinox products in other countries, which they have been exported to and in major multinationals operating here such as Shell, Total, Chevron, among others,” he stressed.

Chairman, Zinox Group, Leo Ekeh, said the right support from government will assist Zinox play a significant role in putting Nigeria on the global technology map.

According to him, Zinox Group remains the single largest 360 degrees ICT conglomerate in the sub-region with advanced competencies in hardware manufacturing, distribution, integrated ICT solutions, telecoms, retail, and excellent support, offices in other countries and hubs in four continents.

On the Group’s support to advancing local content adoption within Nigeria and beyond through the creative design and manufacture of digital products for prospective consumers, he said it remains a major drive in business practices, products and solutions.

“Government needs to come to the aid of tech companies in the country by giving them the wings to fly and achieve more through tax breaks or holidays and other incentives. The technology sector is one of the biggest employers of labour.

“Presently, we face huge challenges in clearing our shipments and other technological components due to the heavy congestion at the ports. This has resulted in crippling demurrages and a tripling of transportation costs from the ports to our production plants and offices over the past few months, making it harder to compete and survive. The government needs to find a solution to these issues,” he said.