NOTAP Seeks Reversal Of $1bn Expenses On Foreign Software Licences

The National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP) has taken significant steps to reverse the huge sums of money Nigeria spends in procuring foreign software licenses, which hit $1.06 billion between 2022 and 2023.

The director general/ CEO of NOTAP, Obiageli Amadiobi made this known during a press briefing to present the scorecard of her stewardship in NOTAP with the theme “Strengthening Indigenous Capacity: NOTAP’s Drive For Technology Transfer, Local Content Development, and Innovation Activities” in Abuja on Wednesday.

She said that the agency intervened to prevent this significant loss by expanding the Local Vendor Policy (LVP), introduced over a decade ago to curb foreign exchange expenditure on software licensing and build local competence. This, she noted, was specifically designed to grow Nigeria’s indigenous Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector by mandating that local software developers be involved in the deployment and maintenance of all foreign software used in Nigeria.

She said “data at our disposal indicates that between 2022 and 2023, Nigerians expended over $1.06 on foreign software licences. This is capital that could have been redirected to develop other critical sectors had Nigerian software professionals been adequately empowered earlier.

“To rectify this, the policy stipulates that a minimum of 40% of the Annual Technical Service (ATS) fees must be paid directly to the indigenous software company handling deployment and maintenance,” she said.

She noted that since the institutionalisation of the LVP, indigenous firms now develop and maintain solutions running in Nigerian banks and other institutions within the country and across Africa, adding that NOTAP has also solved the problem of Nigeria being a dumping ground for all manner of technologies.

She added that NOTAP now ensures that Nigeria gets maximum value for every foreign technology imported, stressing that in “2025 alone the Office registered and monitored 186 Technology Transfer Agreements across various sectors.”

More importantly, she emphasized that the Office is pushing beyond mere registration to the active domestication of foreign technologies, stressing that through rigorous technical audits and capacity assessments, NOTAP ensures that within 3 to five year windows, Nigerians can independently operate and maintain the imported technology.

She said that the Office has through NOTAP- Industry Research Laboratory Upgrade (NIRLUP) has intensified efforts to bridge the critical gap between academic research and industry needs, adding that this has led to the upgrade of 15 laboratories in Nigerian universities and research institutes across the six geopolitical zones, which will help in the commercialisation of Nigerian products and make them competitive globally.

She added that the agency has commenced the strategic compliance and enforcement of her regulatory functions with the appropriate sanctions on all violators, in accordance with the extant laws of the country.

She disclosed that NOTAP has nine critical strategic pillars within which it is delivering measurable impacts. These include Strengthening the Local Vendor Policy; Technology Transfer Regulation and Domestication; NOTAP Industrial Research Laboratory Upgrading Progamme and NOTAP Industry Technology Transfer Fellowship.

Others include; NOTAP Technology and Innovation Summit, Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer Office Fellowship; Final Preparations for the Take-off of Project NOVA; The Technology Story Board and Commercialisation of Research Outcomes and Encouragement of Technology Transfer and Domestication of Indigenous Technologies.