AS part of efforts aimed at leapfrogging the snail speed growth of indigenous software development in Nigeria, the Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON) is on the verge of developing a design to raise N500 million that will boost its growth in the country.

This, according to ISPON's President, Chris Uwaje, is in furtherance of the Institute's national advocacy to foster and promote the software profession and industry in the country, which is perhaps the most critical initiative and indeed last hope for sustainable national development and global competitiveness.

Uwaje said ISPON believes that the software industry can become an alternative to oil, with respect to revenue generation and wealth creation, stressing that the concern however, is about the current alarming rate of national technophobia and in particular, the visible ignorance about the critical and significance role of software in 21st century national global development. ”

The ISPON president stated that by all indications, software technology could become a very feasible alternative to our national oil revenue generation, currently put at about $12 billion a year.

"The key benefit of a vibrant software industry is in producing more knowledgeable and better-skilled human capital for nation building. Indeed, the data for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2008 includes revenue from both domestic and export markets of India, vividly demonstrates that software may be our last hope and bridge to development. India's revenue from exports grew 29 per cent to $40.4 billion during this period, while revenue from the domestic market grew by 26 per cent to $11.6 billion.

"According to India's National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM), this brings the total software revenue generation to $52 billion in 2008. This is more than 400 per cent of what Nigeria generates from oil.

"Today, the development, application and use of software has boosted productivity, created new jobs, enabled more efficient businesses, produced higher quality of goods and services, and led to greater global innovation, standards and best practices.

"The emergence of the software revolution has enhanced the quality of life from improving health care, agriculture, communication, education, art and culture, to promoting greater transparency, to making it easier for government, business and humanity to interact with one another and above all, to promoting world peace.

"Software has therefore become and will remain for a long time one of the fastest growing industries with the power to enrich and sustain national economies. Global projection and current assessment reveals that IT spending will exceed $4 trillion in 2009."

Uwaje said recognising the development of a national software industry as a monumental challenge, ISPON has evolved a yearly "ISPON President's Dinner" as a veritable platform to address critical national software issues and initiatives. Our source has revealed that this President's Dinner event is exclusive for ISPON CEOs and special guests and packaged as special invitation only, is scheduled to take place in the new wing of the Federal Palace Hotel on Monday, 14th December 2009.

According to him, to engage this monumental challenge of recovering from the national disaster of abandoning software development, ISPON has solicited and won the support of core IT champions and stakeholder team, including Ernest Ndukwe of NCC, Sam Amuka - Publisher Vanguard, Jim Ovia, founder of Visafone Networks, Senator Slyvester Anyanwun, Prof. C. Angaye, DG NITDA, Prof. Charles Uwadia, President, Nigeria Computer Society, President of CPN, Dr. Emmanuel Ekunwem - ATCON President, the Diaspora and a host of others, to commence with the plans and programme to raise N500 million for the establishment of sustainable framework, structures, policies and strategies for the enthronement of a robust software industry for the nation.

The ISPON president opined that the critical pathways to achieving greatness in software engineering development include but not limited to the following strategies; the establishment of a national software policy and strategies - incorporating an exclusive, distinct and special institutional framework to harness and develop the software knowledge potentials of the nation; due to its very special characteristics and colossal challenges embedded within the process of "Software Conceptualisation - Design - Development - Production - Packaging - Marketing - Implementation - Technical-Support - Maintenance and Research and Development cycle, its institutional framework should be an exclusive and independent machinery to yield maximum result.

Others are that the exclusive and independent existence and operational characteristic is omnipresent in all the structure of software based institutional policy decisions of nations and private corporate entities, which have succeeded in developing economically viable software culture. A case in point is India, Ireland, China, Malaysia and new entrants such as Chile, Ghana; there is therefore the national need to establish an exclusive "National Software Commission" to engage, drive and deliver world-class solutions to the software vision and aspiration of Nigeria.

Examples of this foresight models and focused development strategy abound: India's software mission is currently exclusively driven by its "Ministry of Electronics and Software Engineering"; Malaysia has established a Ministry of Information Technology and its national software agenda is executed through a "National Software Board" and have gone along to establish a national multi-media university as a fundamental economic strategy for her 21st Century Development Agenda and so on.