AfICTA CEO Roundtable Communiqué 2015

Twitter

The 1^st edition of Africa ICT Alliance, (AfICTA) CEO Roundtable Meeting was successfully held at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, Nigeria on Wednesday 10^th June, 2015. The Meeting attracted African business leaders including more than thirty Chief Executive Officers from Nigeria under the Chairmanship of M.O. Afolabi, Ph.D, Former Deputy Executive Secretary, ECOWAS Secretariat.

Jimson Olufuye, Ph.D, Chairman Africa ICT Alliance was the Chief host of the Meeting with theme: "MOBILIZING AFRICAN BUSINESS LEADERS FOR THE FUTURE OF THE INTERNET".

Keynote Speaker, Mr. Peter Jack (Director General of National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA), Pierre Dandjinou, (ICANN's Vice President of Stakeholder Engagement for the Africa region), Waudo Siganga, Ph.D, (Chairman Computer Society of Kenya), Marilyn Cade, (President of ICT Strategies, mCADE LLC, USA), Andrew Mack (Principal, AMGlobal Consulting, USA), Toyin Oloniteru (Former DG ICT Agency, EKiti State), Kelly Moon, (Economic Officer, US Embassy), Engr Lanre Ajayi (President ATCON and AfICTA Board member), Engr Tola Sogbesan (AfICTA Board member) and other panelists and participants in the Meeting.

Various policies and programmes were discussed and proposed to Stakeholders to boost interests and focus on growing the Internet and ICT for development in Nigeria.

MAJOR RECOMMENDATIONS

Emphasising that INTERNET is perhaps the greatest tool for economic development ever – and we have the chance to steer its course and the community needs all voices – especially business – to get the policies right;

Acknowledging the roles being played by many Stakeholders in promoting the Internet and ICT for development in the Country;

Minding of the continuing efforts of Government, international organisations and other stakeholders to develop enabling enterprise environment for the Internet and ICT for development;

Concerned at the enormous untapped business potential in the Internet sphere;

Recognising the responsibility of States to respect, protect and fulfil Cyber Safety and Security of all people, and the responsibility of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) companies and Internet intermediaries to respect end users;

Convinced that it is of critical importance that not only the Government but all stakeholders invest in creating an enabling and empowering Internet environment that truly serves the needs of all people;

Participants recommended as follows:

Internet Governance

• That the multi-stakeholder approach to Internet Governance (IG) is the best model to assure a stable and sustained IG ecosystem and AfICTA fully supports this approach.
• That AfICTA supports the current Cross-Community Working Group (CWG)-Stewardship proposal on IANA Oversight transition and remains committed to continuous engagement in the Business Constituency of ICANN and the International Chamber of Commerce Business Action in Support of the Information Society (ICC-BASIS).
• That all stakeholders should come together to improve on the current e-Friction position of Nigeria, which is among the highest in the World.
• That NITDA should promote the establishment and incorporation of Nigeria Internet Governance Forum.
• That the 0.005% Tax levy incorporated within the Cybercrime law be played down, to encourage Companies become partners in curbing crimes, rather than being burdened with additional taxes
• That other grey areas in the Nigerian Cybercrime Act with respect to Section 38, 39, & 40 should be reviewed to allow for judicial authorization for law enforcement actions.
• That market exists for the new gTLD and the existing ccTLDs (e.g. .ng). Key to the success therefore is awareness and appropriate market development programmes.
• That Nigeria should bid to host the 2018 edition of Internet Government Forum. A secretariat should be established as may be agreed by all stakeholders following the M/S approach towards a successful hosting preparation and execution.

Financing Opportunity

• That every effort be made by Government to ensure that reforms in the Banking sector encourages Merchant Banking with focus on risk bearing and supports for interested ICT business people.
• That since more than 80% of the government revenue is derived from the oil sector, Banks must shift focus to long-term financing of real sector like ICT entrepreneurship as a value chain.
• That SME products available at the BOI and CBN through the Commercial Banks should be extended to ICT as a Business sector and address the issue of capacity gaps on how to access these funds.
• That the stringent bank conditions for loan need to be reviewed and foreign opportunities be made accessible to young entrepreneurs.
• That Venture Capital option be availed and encouraged to support business ideas.

Re-Orientation

• That there is urgent need to Organise fora for MDAs and stakeholders to brainstorm and come up with a workable framework for ICT4D.
• That MDAs are advised as a matter of urgency to encourage and enforce ICT adoption as institutionalised operational units or departments.
• That there is a need for a unified identity management system in Nigeria.
• That all Stakeholders should align with International Organisations for OPEN-Government Forum.
• That efforts must be made by stakeholders to build trust in online payment systems, online financial services with a view to enhance literacy, percentage of people online, among other factors
• That local content, local domain (.ng) registrations, freedom of the press, freedom of access to official data (e.g. e-government programs) be encouraged and sustained.
• That discussions on security versus privacy of data and communications need more balanced and focused debate including all stakeholders.

Development of ICT Entrepreneurship

• That there is an urgent need to encourage and incubate local young ICT entrepreneurs who by definition take the risks to make profit.
• That to succeed as entrepreneurs, we must shift focus from mere manufacture, to value-facture, adding significance and value to our brand, sell local ideas and quality values in all ICT sectors through creativity and innovations.
• That Government is advised to place a renewed confidence on SMEs to grow the economy by providing enabling environment, especially through policies to grow the ICT sector of the economy.
• That the ICT Industry be made more accommodating, with issues like ease of starting a business, access to ICT skills, access to financing, strong business legal framework, Intellectual property, Enforceable contracts, etc.
• That the educational sector should be revamped to institutionalise entrepreneurship, since this is the solution to further building our economy.
• That Nigeria should shift from a ‘Consumer State’ to Production of ICT solutions, since research shows that SMEs in low e-friction countries who embrace e-solutions can increase revenue growth by 7 %.
• These SMEs are 50% more likely to be exporters of goods and services and 63% more likely to source inputs internationally.
• That ICT as an economic sector and enabler should be appropriately captured in the computation of national GDPs

Infrastructure

• That every effort be made by African Government to improve infrastructural development for business to thrive. Infrastructure peculiar to ICT business includes power, broadband access, Internet Exchange Points.
• That operation of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) should be SMART to assure empowered citizens.
• That Internet penetration can only be meaningful if there is adequate bandwidth to users hence NIGCOMSAT, NCC, MAINONE and other Stakeholders be encouraged to provide necessary last mile broadband deployment, to guaranty a connected Nigeria.
• That Public Services should accessible to ease friction and enable stakeholder satisfaction.
• That Power stability gives positive multiplier effect on the economy, therefore, efforts should be made to stabilise the power sector for 24/7 power supply.
• That NITDA eStrategies are quite robust but a lot need to be done to produce tangible results.

The Organising Committee wishes to place on record its gratitude and appreciation to ICANN, ICANN-BC, NITDA, and all the corporate organisations and private individuals who sponsored the 2015 AfICTA CEO Roundtable and / or contributed in several other ways to ensure that the event was a success. Special thanks are hereby conveyed to all the Speakers and Panellists for their useful contributions.

Thank you all.

Dated this 15^th day of June, 2015.