National
Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP) blocked N192billion
capital flight from the country., thanks to its vigilance and insistence on
local content inclusion in information and communication technology(ICT)
related businesses.
This was
achieved through NOTAP’s refusal to approve for importation of technologies and
services that could be rendered by Nigerians.
Dr.
DanAzumi Ibrahim, director general, said, that the measure was to ensure the acceleration
of Nigeria’s drive towards a rapid technological revolution by an efficient
assimilation and/or absorption of foreign technology and a concerted
development of indigenous technological capacity through a proactive
commercialisation and promotion of locally motivated technologies.
The DG who
regretted that about 90% of technologies used in Nigeria are still imported,
however, expressed confidencr the situation is improving has NOTAP has
secured about 38 patents for agencies and private researchers in the first half
of 2017.
He said the
patents were delivered to the researchers’ institutions at no cost to the
owners.
‘NOTAP is
not resting on its oars to ensure the acceleration of Nigeria’s drive towards a
rapid technological revolution. In carrying out our statutory function of
registration of Technology Transfer Agreement (TTA), we have saved the Country
the N192billion between 2010 and 2016.
‘This sum,
if not for NOTAP intervention would have left the country as capital flight.
This is achieved through refusal to approve for importation of technologies as
well as services that could be rendered by Nigerians’, he said.
The NOTAP
boss added that with the assistance of the World Intellectual Property
Organisation (WIPO), the Agency established Intellectual Property and
Technology Transfer Offices (IPTTOS) in some pioneer Nigerian knowledge
institutions to first of all create the awareness on the importance of
intellectual property protection (IPR).
‘This
programme was aimed at sensitising and refocusing the minds of Nigerian
researchers towards embarking on market and demand-driven research rather than
change the thinking of Nigerian knowledge industry to reawaken their
subconscious that their research results which lie waste in the shelves could
actually be translated to products and services.
‘NOTAP also
introduced local vendor policy to assist in development of local content
initiative of the Federal Government. About 70% of the Technology Transfer
Agreements handled by NOTAP are mainly on software licensing with a huge sum of
money being paid to the foreign software owners\’, the DG ssid.
In order to
encourage local software development, he explained, NOTAP introduced a policy
that forty percent (40%) of the annual maintenance fee goes to the local vendor
working with the company and this has improved software development in Nigeria.
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