MONITORING AND EVALUATING I.T LOCAL CONTENT IN THE NATIONAL TRANSFORMATION AGENDA

1. MONITORING AND EVALUATING I.T LOCAL CONTENT IN THE NATIONAL TRANSFORMATION AGENDA By Ntufam Fidel Ugbo, Esq Secretary to the Commission National Planning Commission, Abuja

2. NATIONAL PLANNING COMMISSION AND ITS MANDATE VISION: • To be the most efficient Planning Agency that guides the growth and development of Nigeria by repositioning the country to be among the league of twenty largest economies in the world by the Year 2020

3. NATIONAL PLANNING COMMISSION AND ITS MANDATE MISSION: • To proactively determine and effectively advise on matters relating to national development and overall management of the economy for positive growth • To ensure that plans and policies are properly implemented by all relevant stakeholders

4. THE NIGERIA VISION 20: 2020 • Vision 20: 2020 is a long term strategy for transforming the Nigerian economy to become one of the top 20 economies by the year 2020 • The goal of vision 20: 2020 is to optimize Nigeria’s human and natural resources to achieve rapid economic growth • The second goal is to translate this growth into equitable social development for all citizens

5. THE NATIONAL TRANSFORMATION AGENDA • The National Transformation Agenda (NTA) is a subset of the NV20:2020 through which the Federal Government aims to deliver projects and programmes by the end of his tenure, 2015. • The NTA outlines objectives and strategies geared towards Information Communication Technology (ICT) development as well as targets and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

6. THE NATIONAL TRANSFORMATION AGENDA cont’d • To track and evaluate the local content that is embedded in the indigenization and domestication of high technology ICT solutions. • Development and implementation of ICT Local Content policy for Nigeria; • Construction of PCB Laboratory for manufacturing electronics printed circuits boards such as computer motherboards; and

7. THE NATIONAL TRANSFORMATION AGENDA cont’d • Establishment of computer Training Laboratory Standards Workshop.

8. NITDA’S ROLE • National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has been in the forefront of championing IT Local content/IT service delivery. • Aim of NITDA’s Computer for all Nigerian (CANI) • To increase IT penetration and improve IT local content through empowering Our Local Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) • To implement this scheme, Government provided the fund for the Manufacturers. • Patronage of Local Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) • Software development policy to empower indigenous software developers.

9. NITDA’S ROLE Cont’d • Managing Federal Government Policy on patronizing local OEMs to assist in building their capacity and increasing their accessibility in the global economy. • Managing initiatives on Student computer ownership scheme recently launched by the Federal Government aimed at increasing the IT local content in IT service delivery

10. WHAT IS LOCAL CONTENT? • Local content is the totality of the culture, values, heritage materials, and indigenous knowledge of a group of people with common interest in a given locality. • What a community creates, owns or adopts in terms of knowledge • The Economist definition of local contents is the proportion of input which comes from the country itself, as opposed to those imported. Salawu and Ajibade, 2012.

11. PURPOSE OF THE MONITORING AND EVALUATION DEPARTMENT (M&E) AT NPC • Coordination, Monitoring and Evaluation of Projects, Policies and Programmes across MDAs both at National and Sub-National Levels

12. WHAT IS MONITORING AND EVALUATION? • Monitoring is a continuous function that uses the systematic collection of data on specified indicators to provide management with other stakeholders with indications of the extent of progress and achievement of objectives and progress in the use of allocated funds (OECD 2002) • Evaluation is the systematic and objective assessment of an ongoing or completed projects, programmes, or policy including its design, implementation, and results.

13. OPERATIONALISING M&E TO ENHANCE IT LOCAL CONTENT • M&E is a vital tool towards boosting local content in the IT sector • Can be accomplished through the use of the Results-Based Management System (RBMS). • To operationaliseM&E in all sectors, there is the need to adapt the stages involved in the Result Based Management System illustrated next

15. OPERATIONALISING M&E TO ENHANCE IT LOCAL CONTENT cont’d • INPUTS refer to the human, financial, technical, and material resources used to complete the Activities required by the project/program. • ACTIVITIES are the actions, operations and methodologies employed by the project/program to produce its targeted Output. • OUTPUTS are concerned with the quantity and quality of the goods and services produced by the project/program/policy, with the intention of effecting a desired change (Outcome).

16. OPERATIONALISING M&E TO ENHANCE IT LOCAL CONTENT cont’d • OUTCOMES are concerned with expected economic, socio-cultural, institutional, technological or environmental effects for the target community or institutions that are produced by the project/ program/policy, with the intention of contributing to a higher strategic goal (Impact). • IMPACT is concerned with the long term economic, socio-cultural, institutional, technological or environmental effects of the Inputs, Activities, Outputs, and Outcomes on a given community or institutions, whether planned or unplanned. • SUSTAINABILITY is concerned with whether the Impact can be maintained, replicated, and institutionalized following the completion of the project/program.

17. BENEFITS OF IT LOCAL CONTENT DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA • Information Technology serves as a catalyst for sustainable national development. It is an avenue for empowerment of Nigerian citizenry for various purposes (B. A. Salawu2012) • The creation and dissemination of local content is imperative for enhancing national image – for instance, South Korea is known a “wired” country. • Creation of local content provides opportunity to bridge the information divide. • It has the potential to change the way Nigeria is being viewed by the world media as it can be used to convey accurate and positive image and a key factor in the success of Nigeria rebranding project. (B. A. Salawu2012)

18. ANTICIPATED CHALLENGES FACING MONITORING AND EVALUATION (M&E) • Funding is a major problem facing M&E for Local Content in all sectors in the Nigerian Economy • Lack of awareness of the importance of the Local Content Act within Agencies and Inter-Agencies. • Inadequate infrastructure to aid in the implementation of the Local Content within the Ministries and Agencies. • Conflicting priorities with the various sectors of the economy. • Internal and regional conflicts hampering the expansion of Local Content in all the sectors. • Dearth of technical-know how of M&E within the various Departments of the Ministries and Agencies.

19. RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION • Encourage Monitoring and Evaluation capacity development in the MDAs. • Appropriate funding for ICT Local Content • Backing funding and policies with political will • Without local content, such a country would have no option but to keep importing and outsourcing most of its goods and services which will definitely attract huge cost, thereby hindering economic progress

20. RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION cont’d • The future of Nigeria is tied to ICT development, particularly the cashless policy of the monetary authorities. • ICT will fast track the attainment of the goals of the Transformation Agenda and the Vision 20:2020 • Let us all embrace e-Nigeria for there lies our future as a Nation.