Mr Olatunbosun Alake, Commissioner for Innovation, Science and Technology, on Tuesday said that the goal of the state government was to domicile Information Technology (IT) incountry and reduce foreign dependency.
The commissioner told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in an interview in Lagos that the inflation being experienced in the country was an opportunity to become locally driven.
Alake explained that being locally-driven meant domiciling Information Technology within the country.
“Being locally-driven will reduce foreign dependency and help curb inflation. Inflation and funding are challenges confronting the IT sector and the country at large, but they can be utilised to the nation’s advantage,” the commissioner said.
He noted that inflation had really tempered a lot of activities, citing an example, he said, if one was dealing with Microsoft what was paid in 2020 would be significantly different from what would be paid in 2024.
According to Alake, the ministry deals with a lot of technology partners from different countries just to be able to deliver efficient services to the state government and its citizens.
“So funding and inflation in the macro economy have been significant challenges, but we are trying to work around it by becoming more creative and locally-driven.
“Furthermore, there are opportunities within the challenging environment such as technology creation, which is very important,’’ he said.
Alake said that the challenge of inflation in the country was a call to look inwards and become more creative.
(NAN)
