The director-general of the National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP), Dr. Obiageli Amadiobi, has said that companies that do not submit their technology transfer agreements to NOTAP for proper evaluation and registration will soon face stiff penalties and prosecution.
This was disclosed in a statement issued on Wednesday by the head of Public Relations and Protocol unit of NOTAP, Raymond Ogbu.
Dr. Amadiobi issued the warning when she led the top Management staff of NOTAP on a familiarisation visit to some Information and Communication Technology (ICT) companies in Lagos on Thursday, June 13, 2024. She stated that NOTAP was established to regulate the inflow of foreign technology through the registration of technology transfer agreements to promote the development of locally motivated technologies.
The NOTAP director-general further stated that while the Office was working assiduously to ensure that Nigerian companies were offered the best contractual terms in acquisition of foreign technologies, some companies were hiding under the non-registration of hardware to avert registration of their agreements because they have lumped up software and hardware together thereby shortchanging the system.
She expressed the commitment of the Office in synergising with companies that strictly comply with NOTAP rules but will ensure stiff punishment for erring ones.
She said: “Available records show that a greater percentage of companies in Nigeria operate on imported technologies which run into millions of dollars without NOTAP registration necessitated by Law, thereby shortchanging the Nigerian economy.
“By law, it is mandatory that NOTAP should be involved during the technology negotiation stage to ensure that the Nigerian entrepreneur acquires appropriate technology in best contractual terms so to enable rendition of services commensurate with the money expensed on it,” the statement said.
The new NOTAP boss said that in line with the Renewed Hope mantra of the present administration, no company is allowed to continue to avoid registration of technology transfer agreements with NOTAP. She also stated that some operators lump acquisition of foreign hardware with the software with the claim that the technology can not be registered since it is hardware.
The NOTAP boss emphasised that such companies were doing great disservice to the nation and should henceforth desist from such practices.
Earlier, in his welcome address, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Computer Warehouse Group (CWG), Mr. Adewale Adeyipo, expressed delight in the energy and enthusiasm demonstrated by the new Director General within a few days of her appointment, adding that the company was ready and willing to partner with NOTAP in ensuring the development of the ICT ecosystem.
He said that NOTAP’s mandate and activities are enormous and strategic to directly or indirectly generate over 2000 jobs annually within the ICT space. He added that for a nation to be globally competitive, it must adopt one of the key elements of growth, which is ICT holistically.
He said that what government in the developed countries consider first while thinking of investment is digital penetration and regretted that over the years the Country has expended over 987.8 million US dollars on digital media subscription and downloads, adding that this sum could have been saved for Nigerian economic growth if adequate support for local ICT operators had come from government through policies.
In the same vein, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft Nigeria plc, Mrs. Ola William said that NOTAP had done remarkably well in fast-tracking the development of the ICT sector.
She used the opportunity to debunk the rumour making the rounds that Microsoft was winding up to leave Nigeria, adding that the company was committed to the sustainable growth of the ICT ecosystem, the statement added.
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