By Fatima Zahra Muhammad
ASHENEWS reports that the Niger State government in a bid to revamp the state’s Information Technology (IT) sector has placed an embargo on the use of non-indigenous IT firms by government agencies.
The Niger State Commissioner for Communications Technology and Digital Economy, Suleiman Isah disclosed this during a post-exco briefing at Government House, in Minna on Thursday.
Isah said that the decision was reached during the weekly state executive council meeting held on Wednesday.
“The council has agreed to domesticate IT projects in the state.
“This means that before we export any IT project out of the state, we have to search every nook and cranny of Niger state until we make sure that there is no single individual who can do it before we take it out of the state.
“To encourage investment however, the state government has directed that any IT firm which seeks to do business with Niger is free to come and open up a branch and employ our people before we consider them for any project,” he said.
On technology development, the commissioner said that the state government is partnering with Google developers to host 1,000 indigenous developers in November.
Isah further said that the state government has proposed electronic document management for the State Executive Council (SEC).
“Very soon, our council chambers will be paperless. What the governor wants is for council members to be able to clear all important files and documents within 24 hours. We intend to do this before December,” he said.
