Experts in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Africa are in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, for the Innovation Africa Digital Summit, which opened on Tuesday, with talks centred on the transformation of the continent with digital technology.
The experts at the Summit gathered to fashion out ways of exploiting the numerous and untapped opportunities in the technology sector in the continent to ensure transformation, development and growth.
At the Summit, the experts expressed optimism that Africa’s underdevelopment and the numerous challenges such as insecurity, poverty and unemployment could be eliminated through digital technology.
They stressed that increased efforts must be made by governments and the private sector to develop the sector, as ICT innovations had become the major determinants of how citizens live and work as well as grow economically.
It is the 14th edition of the Innovation Africa Digital Summit and it is holding in Nigeria for the first time, with one major focus – how to induce organic growth in Africa by finding effective ways to harness the continent’s digital growth potentials.
Key players in the ICT sector from over 30 countries on the African continent are attending the summit and they are convinced that the dwindling oil prices should not affect Africa especially with the many opportunities that digital transformation presents.
The Managing Director of Galaxy Backbone, Yusuf Kazaure, was one of those that gave a speech at the Summit tagged the ‘Live Changing and Development Foundation for Africa’.
An integrated technology expert and the Managing Director of EMC, Nicholas Travers, told the Summit that the present innovations in the communication technology sector could set unprecedented paces in the continent.
But, according to the Chief Executive Officer of the Extensia, Tariq Malik, for Africa to take full advantage of the available opportunities, government and indeed the private sector must commit appropriate investment in the digital and communication sector.
More than oil and gas or any other sector, the Information and Communication Technology sector, when appropriately channelled and nurtured, could employ millions of Africans, at least 40 million in Nigeria, according to key players.
The experts on digital technology said it was high time Africa took charge of its technological advancement and channel it to the development of the continent and a better life for its people.
