‘Indigenous Software Developers Can't Compete with Foreign Firms’

 By Emma Okonji

Following public outcry that indigenous software developers do not get support from Nigerians and the Nigerian government in the area of patronage of locally developed software, the President, Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON), Mr. Pius Okigbo Jnr has said indigenous firms are not well equipped to offer competing solutions at present.

He however said there is room big enough for co-existence between foreign developed software and indigenous software.

Okigbo told THISDAY that ISPON does not intend to stop entirely the influx of foreign software into Nigeria.

He said: "Primarily, our area of concern is exploiting custom programming opportunities in oil and gas and, perhaps, some general purpose solutions. For example, if a company purchases a portal solution or some specialised oil and gas solution, I would not expect that company to fly in a team of foreigners to implement and support the solution in Nigeria.”

According to him, “What I expect a foreign firm to do is to partner a local software company, train the partner sufficiently and let the local firm do the implementation and provide support with supervision from the original equipment manufacturer (OEM). There will still be need for the SAPs, the Oracles and the Microsoft product suites, and many other OEMs whose solutions offer great benefits to the Oil and Gas business."

Okigbo who strongly believes in indigenous software, however said there are some software solutions that are cheaper and better than their foreign counterparts. Citing the human resources management and payroll solutions, developed locally in the country, as better software solution, Okigbo blamed the woes of indigenous software developers on some Nigerians who are diehard users of foreign software that would always frustrate the growth of indigenous software.

"All too often you see Nigerians who work in Oil and Gas firms frustrate indigenous software companies from participating in critical solutions development under the guise that indigenous firms do not have the competence and/or capacity to develop such solutions. But this will certainly change now with the country's Local Content Act. The shift in attitude will go a long way in helping to broaden local participation in the software space," Okigbo said.

The ISPON President insisted there are myriad of opportunities in software and related software services, the scope of which lies in the hundreds of millions of dollars, explained that the opportunities could be achieved through constructive engagement with the key stakeholders of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB).

"Clearly, we must engage with the positive narrative that our industry can deliver on software solutions in the Oil and Gas space. We must believe that as the software industry builds on its capacity and skill sets, the jobs must be available to these firms," Okigbo said.

According to him, in the United States the Defense department was instrumental in helping to build capacity in early years from 1956-1966, in their software sector. The primary defense contractors hired and trained hundreds of developers who after a few years moved on to other industries to deliver top-end solutions.

On the directive by the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, Dr. Ernest Nwapa, that ISPON should collaborate with the board to attain the gains of local content in software development, Okigbo said ISPON must progress this narrative by  engaging with all the stakeholders for the common good of the software community and Nigeria at large, which he said, would involve dialoguing with the international oil companies, the indigenous production firms and the principal gas companies to exploit low hanging fruits and seek a foot-hold in the Oil and Gas space.

Culled from: http://www.thisdaylive.com