‘How to reposition Nigeria’s economy through ICTEL EXPO’

The Minister of Communication, Dr Adebayo Shittu, his counterpart in the Ministry of Science and Technology, Ogbonanya Onu, and the Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communication Commission, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, have urged the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), to maximise the opportunities provided by the yearly Information Communication Technology and Telecommunication (ICTEL) Expo, to change the country’s fortunes economically.

The trio spoke at separate meetings they had with a delegation of the LCCI, who visited them recently in Abuja, to ensure a strategic collaboration on the unique event, which holds on July 16th and 17th at the Landmark Event Centre, Lagos.

According to them, ICT, Science and Technology and Telecommunications are vibrant, dynamic and critical sectors of the economy with huge potentials for capacity building, peoples’ empowerment and massive job creation all of which are imperatives for economic development.

Shittu told the LCCI team-led by the Chairman, Specialised Exhibition Committee of the Chamber, Leye Kupoluyi, that the ICT sector remained very attractive to the youths, stressing that the ICTEL EXPO should therefore focus on capacity building and entrepreneurship through the deployment of ICT so as to provide job opportunities for millions of unemployed youths.

Similarly, Danbatta, who was represented by NCC’s Director, Consumer Affairs Bureau, Mrs Felicia Onwuegbuchulam, said the ICTEL EXPO provided yet another opportunity for the LCCI in collaboration with the NCC to explore more opportunities for ensuring maximum benefits from the increasing impact of digitalisation, especially in view of the realities of the Fourth Industrial Revolution-the theme of the 2019 ICTEL EXPO.

To Onu, the yearly ICTEL EXPO is a step in the right direction, as it would support the nation’s quest for economic diversification. In his words, “LCCI-through the ICTEL EXPO-has continued to support the movement of the nation’s economy from a commodity- based one to a knowledge and innovation- driven one.”

I urge the LCCI to utilize the research findings of our ministry as part of the resources that would make this year’s ICTEL EXPO to achieve the goal of economic improvement and job creation among others”.

Responding, kupoluyi explained that the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) has severe consequences that would affect the future of work, especially in Manufacturing, and in the production of goods and provision of services generally, and everyone must be informed and prepared.

In his words: “With 4IR, knowledge is the key and innovation is the answer. And everyone will be affected in one way or the other, and we must all be informed and prepared. That is why we need the collaboration of all stakeholders for the ICTEL EXPO. Besides, we also want to tell the success stories of some Nigerians and Nigerian enterprises who are doing great things in the fields of ICT, Science and Technology and Telecommunications, because nobody will tell our stories better than we ourselves”.