With the emergence of a new President-elect in Nigeria, stakeholders in the information technology sector are urging the new government that would be sworn in on 29 May to sustain the policies of the outgoing government in the area of information technology.
Lanre Akinlagun, Founder of online drinks ordering platform, Drinks.ng, said the new government must strive to sustain the achievements recorded in the IT sector under the minister for communication and technology, Omobola Johnson.
“It is difficult to say exactly what the incoming will do but we in the IT sector do hope that he retains the minister of communication technology because the lady that was there was committed and had lots of plans on ground that are yet to be implemented and do not need to be abandoned. This is because, as this government is leaving, there will be no way to ensure that those laudable plans are followed,” he told Vanguard.
On his part, Mark Essien, founder of Hotels.ng said the policies spearheaded by Johnson brought about significant improvement in startups.
“To drive economic growth with special regard to the e-business sector, the Buhari government should create an environment conducive to foreign investment into IT startups,” he said.
“This election will probably be the best thing that has happened to Nigeria in terms of foreign investment. It does not have to do with Buhari directly, but rather the fact that Africa’s biggest economy had a peaceful election where the sitting president lost, and power was handed over without any issues. The newly elected president is well known for his stance against corruption, and the fact that he could be elected peacefully shows that Nigeria has ‘grown up’ and can now be seen as stable economy.”