Nigeria’s 98 million mobile internet users has positioned the country as one of the world’s top three consumers of the Internet according to a latest survey carried out by Main One, one of the broadban companies in Nigeria.
The Chief Executive Officer, MainOne, Ms Funke Opeke, who stated this in a chat with Sunday Telegraph in Lagos, also emphasised the need for Nigeria to accelerate increase technology adoption.
Opeke spoke on the sideline of the MainOne’s flagship Information Technology event, Nerds Unite, which held recently in Lagos with the theme ‘Radical Digital Transformation.’
She stated that aside from connectivity to the Internet, there was the need to work together in increasing the rate of technology adoption, local data hosting and content distribution in Nigeria.
Opeke further emphasised that it was important to engage technology gurus in sharing ideas and finding new ways of technology to improve standard of living, adding that the conference was a platform designed to bring together professionals from the world of technology.
Opeke said: “Technology is critical to the sustenance of the Nigerian community. There is no way the economy will grow without technology and the need for radical digital transformation.”
At the event, other Information Technology experts highlighted the importance of applying technology to every facet of life in line with digital transformation agenda of the Federal Government.
The keynote speaker at the event, Nnamdi Oranye, urged Nigerians to be passionate about the development of their country, adding that technology remained the only way to move the country forward.
Oranye, who is the author of ‘Disrupting Africa’, stated that a recent United Nations survey estimated that Nigeria would be the third largest country in the world by 2050.
He said Nigeria could not afford to fail as a country, adding that Africa would be highly dependent on Nigeria.
According to him, Nigeria is described as a developing country because of its low industrial base.
Oranye further said that before the country could be developed, technology and innovation had to be used to identify new trends, incentivise actions and develop new ideas. He added that people should take advantage of available tools to build a legacy for the coming generations.
During a panel discussion centred on ‘Disruptive Solutions for Enterprise,’ the Presales Customer Solutions Manager, SAP West Africa, Chibuzor Ezeasor, said technology could be used to engage customers and the workforce in an organisation.
Ezeasor shared that SAP, through its CSR programme, would organise events and training around Africa for young entrepreneurs and developers. He said SAP would also build an application for entrepreneurs to build other applications.
Also speaking at the event, the Chief Technology Officer, Microsoft, Hakeem Adeniji-Adele, emphasised the need for the SMEs to adopt technology. “Enterprises are driven by customer experience and engagement and technology can be adopted to get adequate feedback and suggestions”.
Adeniji-Adele, who noted the interdependence of technology and innovation, also stated that there was no way an entrepreneur could innovate without using technology.
He stated that 62 per cent of the revenue generate by Microsoft was from the innovation of CloudShare.
On the other hand, the Senior Government Manager at Avanti Communications, Srinath Logasubramanian, described innovation as critical to human existence, adding that the day innovation ends, is the day the world will come to an end. He noted that even big companies had to be on their toes in innovation in order not be pushed out of business by new firms and hinted that Avanti would be launching a satellite system in March to cover broadband services across sub-Saharan Africa.
