TMCnet News
Okere Canvasses .ng Adoption By 17.7 Million MSME(AllAfrica Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Chairman of the 2014 Nigeria Internet Governance Forum (NIGF) and Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Computer Warehouse Group (CWG) Plc, Austin Okere, says a framework targeted at Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) is needed for digital explosion to become a reality in Nigeria. Speaking in Lagos, Okere expressed hope that the NIGF would focus on adoption of .ng by ensuring that the 17.7 million players in the MSME sub-sector of the economy, would enroll in this national resource to foster inclusive growth. Nigeria, he said, ranks eighth out of 212 member-countries of United Nations in terms of number of Internet users, and 128th in terms of Internet penetration. He quoted the World Economic Forum as saying that 50 of 100 Nigerians in the urban dwellers accesses the internet monthly, while 58 have internet enable mobile phones, while 21 have smart phones. Okere also noted that the modern wave of internet has taken Africa by storm and Nigeria is no exception. He pointed out that recent World Bank study showed that 32.9 per cent of Nigerians depend on technologies of this age like high speed Internet data, broadband and Long Term Evolution (LTE)-Broadband among others. On the other hand, he said, CWG Plc leveraged on the abundance of broadband capacity to launch an ambitious programme of empowering MSME's which she tags CWG 2.0; to work with banks and government agencies such as Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (SMEDAN) and the Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment to provide affordable technology to help MSME's to build capacity and attract credit to grow their businesses. The objective, Okere said, will enable the 17.7 MSME's build sufficient capacity to employ additional staff each. This will create an additional 17.7 million jobs, fuelling inclusive growth. He, therefore, urged NIGF led by the Local Multi-stakeholder Advisory Group (LMAG) and the managers of .NG country code domain name the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NIRA), to tap into this MSME in effort to populate .NG brand. The Nigeria Internet Governance Forum (NIGF) is a renewed collaborative effort of internet stakeholders in the country led by the Local Multi-Stakeholder Advisory Group (LMAG) since 2012. Copyright Daily Independent. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). |