In the last few years of massive investments in the nation’s ICT sector, checks have shown that majority of the hubs development had concentrated in the South West, South-South and parts of North Central without any mention on South-East.
However, South East has finally come into the picture as the immediate past Director, Corporate Affairs at the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Mr. Tony Ojobo, has began a rescue mission in technology in the zone following the launch of TechX ICT Hub in Enugu. In an interview, Ojobo who doubles as the President, African ICT Foundation, said that the Hub located at 56, Ezilo Street, Independence Layout, Enugu State, Nigeria, was set up as an ICT Innovation Hub to contribute their quota towards addressing unemployment and other societal problems in the South East Ecosystem.
According to him, “Our country has recently witnessed dwindling fortunes as a result of the volatility in the international oil market.
“This state of affairs has stalled economic development, thus making it difficult for government to provide the necessary social safety nets and benefits for the citizens.
“The level of unemployment has remained in the double digits for several years. The available job opportunities cannot absorb the teeming number of graduates coming out of the universities. This has led to high level of criminality and other social vices now prevalent in our communities.
“In realization of these challenges, our organization decided to set up an ICT Innovation Hub in Enugu to contribute our quota towards addressing this problem in the South East Ecosystem.
“The level of unemployment in this region is frightening and something has to be done urgently to address this trend. In 2016 in collaboration with the Young innovators of Nigeria, The NCC sponsored the organization to carry out a study of the ICT ecosystem in the South East to determine the level of innovations and ICT penetration in the region.
Continuing, Ojobo averred that “The report showed that the level of ICT penetration was very low and that something needed to be done to address it.
“The region has very few industries and organizations that can absorb the rising number of unemployed graduates in the ecosystem.
“It therefore becomes imperative to embrace technology as a way to tap into the ingenuity of the youths.
“The youths of this region are reputed to be ingenious, hence the need to channel this ingenuity to productive purposes for common good. Initiatives such as this will contribute to reducing cybercrime by winning over the practitioners and turning them into innovators.
Explaining more on what TechX stands for, Ojobo made it clear that “TechX stands for Technology Extra – this means that technology not applied is useless. Technology has to be applied to deliver value to lives and businesses.
“The X factor of technology is anchored on the things it can accomplish to contribute to human development.
On the Vision driving the centre, Ojobo hinted that “The strategic vision of Tech X is focused on four key areas, which I call the 4A’s of technological advancement; Awareness, Access, Adoption and Application. A key strategy that addresses the issue of low ICT penetration is awareness.
He added that “People need to be aware of the power of ICT to transform lives, businesses and the economy at large. The most capitalized firms in the world today are playing in the ICT space. The capacity of this technology to lift peoples and nations out of poverty is phenomenal.
“TechX is a global organization that is concerned with the slow adoption of technology in the developing countries especially Africa. Nigeria however, has the market, the people and local innovations that can disrupt business models around the world. We are on track to making this happen.
Ojobo disclosed that “At TechX we shall create a platform for people with ideas to incubate, startups, business developers, coders, programmers and techies to perfect and scale up their innovations through a structured mentoring process, training and knowledge development programs”.
“On this journey we shall be collaborating with relevant Stakeholders, namely; the Media, Regulators, Hub owners, Tertiary Institutions, State Governments, Federal Government. SME’s, Multilateral Agencies, Embassies, Equipment Manufacturers, Ministries Departments and Agencies and other important Stakeholders,” Ojobo averred.
However, analysts say the main problem of ICT Hub establishment in Nigeria have been lack of credible foreign technological partners, scarcity of broadband and last mile to power steady internet access and structuring of training programmes to make studies predictable.
