Nigeria's minister of science and technology has called on the information technology sector to increase infrastructure in order to increase the country's economy. Ita Okon Bassey Ewa said that the IT sector must boost its output in order to have a positive impact on the Nigerian economy. In a prepared statement to reporters, the minister's representative Gloria Elemo, said that it would be only through “proper co-ordination and collaboration of stakeholders that Nigeria can be adequately position as a major player in the global information society and knowledge economy.” The minister added that country-wide workshops are key to the further success of the IT sector as it relates to the economy must follow “up to the two phases earlier held in February and May this year.” He added that companies and the government must implement many plans to boost IT in Nigeria. The country must “identify the challenges and formulate strategies for full implementation with the aim of fast-tracking the development of ICT in the present administration's transformation agenda.” Analysts have long pushed the government and the IT sector to work together on boosting the country's telecom sector as it relates to the economy. Ibrahim Asfour, a Lagos-based securities analyst, said that “we have long separated the two sectors from full integration and this has left Nigeria's economy struggling to integrate itself with the burgeoning IT sector.” BM
