The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has revealed that it has for some time now, been inundated with barrage of complaints from Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA), the organised private sector and individual consumers of IT goods and services on the poor quality of services being rendered by Internet Service Providers (ISPs), Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), and Electronic Commerce platforms, Software vendors.
It also listed other poor service providers to include IT enabled service providers such as Financial Technology Service Providers (FTSPs), Payment Terminal Service Providers (PTSPs), Payment Solutions Service Providers (PSSPs), Business Process Outsourcing Service Providers (BPOSPs) and other IT goods and service providers.
In a statement issued in Abuja, and emailed to Business Hilights, NITDA said “An assessment carried out by the Agency confirms that such complaints are largely true”.
“While NITDA is working with critical stakeholders to ensure an excellent working environment for both indigenous and foreign IT goods and service providers, the Agency is also making efforts to ensure that Nigerians are satisfied with IT goods and services consumed. The Agency, therefore, will do all it can to enforce the rights of consumers who are being underserved by the substandard services they receive from such providers.
The statement signed by the Director General of NITDA, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami observed that “The poor quality of some IT goods and services is adversely affecting the economy”.
“Some businesses have had to pack up as the value derived from IT was not commensurate with IT investments. Additionally, some MDAs have been repeating expenses on IT goods and services in every budget year because of the poor quality of earlier purchased software and hardware. This has constituted an unsustainable drain on the nation’s resources.
“We are therefore calling on both indigenous and foreign IT goods and service providers to pay attention to quality and customer satisfaction. Terms of license acquisition, Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and contracts with clients and customers must be strictly adhered to. The Agency is setting mechanism in place to monitor compliance and would facilitate the blacklisting perennial defaulters, prosecute them and ensure remedy for consumers.
It would be recalled that NITDA is an Agency under the Federal Ministry of Communications, created in April 2001 to implement the Nigerian Information Technology Policy and co-ordinate general IT development and regulation in the country. Specifically, Section 6(a &c) of the Act mandates NITDA to create a framework for the planning, research, development, standardization, application, coordination, monitoring, evaluation and regulation of Information Technology practices, activities and systems in Nigeria; and render advisory services in all information technology matters to the public and private sectors.
