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To make Nigeria to be at par with the rest of the world in terms of manpower skills in ICT, young people need to be trained. Mr Mohammed Zurmi, chief executive officer, Dalsam Technology in this interview with Evelyn Okoruwa explains why more training center should be made available

Based on your assessment of the broadband penetration level in the country, what should the government and service providers do to ensure that broadband penetration is deepened and every Nigerian have access?

There have been efforts from various organisations to increase broadband penetration in various ways. Government of course will do its own part, not only in terms of giving infrastructure which I think government is not really into in this case, but also in terms of encouragement. Government is certainly doing its own part in terms of encouraging private institutions. NITDA and NCC are also giving a lot of encouragement to  private companies like the GLO, MTN and the others. There is also the NICOMSAT that is in the business of expanding this broadband penetration. As it is, I think we are not doing so badly in this country but we need to do more because in some areas  we have almost  zero penetration.

The Minister of Communication Technology, Mrs Omobola Johnson, said recently at a forum in Lagos that the federal government is targeting 500 per cent increase in broadband penetration. Can it be met?

To be honest, the government can achieve anything it wants to because it has the resources, expertise and ways of   going about  it. For the minister to say this, it means the situation has seriously been understudied. If she says it can be achieved, then I have no doubt.

Several years ago it was difficult for bank branches to talk to each other, but today with the Wide Area Network (WAN) and Local Area Network (LAN), not just banks but companies can reach each other through network systems. From your experience working in this field, is downtime still a major headache? If it is, how can it be mitigated?

Downtime is a major challenge, I must say. Part of the solution to the problem is the access to broadband like you mentioned. I think perhaps we were a little bit early in embracing the electronic  system and we have had a lot of failures. Downtime issue is quite significant but with time, there should be an improvement. Banks, however, are not resting on their oars in trying to solve the problem. It is not an ideal situation but I think we will get there. For  now, it is a source of concern.

I was at a seminar recently and one of the key issues on discourse was the near absence of  skilled manpower. What is your organisation doing to address this challenge?

Well as an organisation we can do very little compared to the size of the country and compared to the level of skilled manpower that is required. However, at Dalsam Technologies, we have a training institute in Sokoto where we offer a wide range of ICT courses from the CCNA and others. We are trying our best in our own little way and by the time a lot of people come in , a lot of things can be achieved in terms of the training of manpower. Some people are also putting a lot of interest in the ICT and I think they are taking it upon themselves to go to school and take such courses in computer science and so on. In our own little way we have a training institute and not less than 100 people register yearly.

Cumulatively how many people have you been able to train?

We started the school about three years ago and we’ve had about 400 so far.

Looking at the changing ICT ecosystem, do you think that putting computers in the hands of every student will help propel Nigeria to the stage India, China and other Asian tigers have reached?

One student, one computer will help, but what will help more than giving the hardware is the commitment of  the education, supervisory and regulatory authorities who will  show the way, because ICT is actually the future. So giving students computers will help. However, I don’t even know if putting one computer to a student would  mean  that all the schools do really have competent IT  trainers. I have seen an office where the computers are  very new but for more than 6 months, it was not used simply because the person didn’t know how to use it and he was not bothered to learn, neither has the government made it a point to train its personnel. If that happens, then putting the computers in someone’s hand is actually not going to do much. We may also have a reverse side as most people use internet for surfing. If you put these computers into the hands of idle young students and you are not very serious about what they do with it, then you will end up not really achieving what you want to achieve.

What challenges do companies like yours face?

As you will know, a lot of companies do have a lot of challenges. Assess to things that will make companies work. For instance, if you want to do certain things and you approach the banks, the banks are not ready to give the finance. Then of course, the challenge of lack of expertise that abound in our environment even though one may want to go into certain areas of the business. There is also the high turnover of staff. You know IT is a very lucrative industry and with small companies like us, it is very difficult to retain people when other people are there desperately looking for them and are able to give them higher incentives.

Apart from being into ICT for over ten years you are also the chairman Coop Mortgage Bank. What do you think about the mortgage system in Nigeria?

Frankly it is grossly underdeveloped. The processes that you go through to obtain loan is not easy . Government has tried to do its own part by setting Primary Mortgage Insitutions (PMI’s) so that people can come in and capitalise and try to offer these mortgage services but it is still a far cry from what is should be. With the kind of housing deficit that we have in the country I think we need to do a lot more.

Housing financing is a major challenge facing most Nigerians, why is it so?

 The mortgage institutions are sometimes undercapitalised and unable to do more than what their capital allows them. Initially the Federal Mortgage Bank had a lot of activities but somehow it has quiettened down for one reason or the other. In its own little way, it is doing something but there is a share number that has to be serviced in this mortgage financing which makes it more difficult. Also the procedures  for obtaining these facilities and of course the matter of repayment is not helping too.

What’s your take on the demolition exercise?

We should  stop being a bit sentimental. The truth is that there is a master plan for Abuja and we have to follow it. If  people flout the master plan,  they should  also be able to take responsibility for doing the wrong thing and not blame anyone. 

What do you think about Nigeria achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)?

The MDGs itself has given the indication that we may not achieve the goals and beat the deadline .The project has been weighed down by a lot of factors. For example, part of  its   target is the achievement of improved maternal health. A lot of health centres have been built round the country, but if you go to these places,  even though they have beautiful buildings, they don't  have  enough staff to man them.So it is not only the buildings that will achieve the MDGs , but also the personnel that are supposed to service the people that will come.

Some financial experts and other Nigerians on Sunday urged the Federal Government to review the salaries of workers upwards.

They told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that a substantial increase in workers’ wages would complement the government’s efforts in tackling corruption and other social vices.

Mr Oluwole Ibikunle, Managing Director of Boaz Management and Financial Strategies Ltd., said that the high level of inflation had eroded the value of workers’ salaries which had remained stagnant.

Ibikunle said that periodic upward review of workers’ wages would reinvigorate economic activities and boost the liquidity system as well as encourage investments among workers.

``Low wages make workers less productive, create discord in families and compel majority of the workers to engage in shady deals to make ends meet,’’ he stated.

Mr Remi Alarape, the Managing Director of Remmy Associates Ltd., attributed the increase in corruption and other social ills among the working class to the prevailing `dismal wages’.

Alarape said that the inability of the Nigerian working class to financially support extended family members to create small businesses had contributed to unemployment and high level poverty nationwide.

``A well-paid worker will not only support extended family members in operating small businesses but would find it difficult to engage in corruption or any social vice,’’ he said.

Mr Ojo Makinde, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Psychology, University of Ibadan, also told NAN that the poor wage profile had robbed the country of committed workers interested in professional career growth.

``Job seekers are no longer concerned about the prospect of the jobs they get.

``They are only interested in the salary they will earn. This is the reason why many people want to work in multinational companies and oil firms that pay huge salaries,’’ Makinde said.

Mrs Dupe Bakare, Deputy Manager of Integrated Capital Services Ltd., said that workers in the civil service earned less than their counterparts in the private sector.

``A World Bank research conducted sometimes ago shows that over 120 million Nigerians live on less than two dollars per day.

``The situation has not improved. Even with the N18,000 minimum wage, it is very hard for people to survive on that kind of salary in a country where most goods are imported.

``Our salary is not good enough; we are grossly under-paid. We live on loans and  without loans we can't embark on meaningful projects like having houses and cars of our own.

 ``We would have finished spending the salary before it is even paid at the end of the month and we would have incurred lots of debts.

``We buy necessities like food and clothing on credit; it is like a cycle. At the end of the year, we always have nothing to show for our labour,” she said.

A medical practitioner, Mr Peter Johnson, appealed to government to increase workers’ salaries through improved wages.

``Many Nigerians are struggling to make ends meet; they can't live the kind of lives they desire because of poor wages.

 ``How can people buy goods when they do not have money? It is good to encourage the growth of foreign and local businesses in the country. We should, however, empower people who will buy the products,’’ Johnson said.

Mr Ladi Afolabi, the Managing Director of Ethical Business and Management Associates (EBAM), said that poor wages constituted one of the greatest challenges to the Nigerian economy.

``In Nigeria, the computation of salary does not take into consideration the changes that affect the average worker as a result of the economic challenges facing the nation.

``As a result, at the end of the month, take home pay does not take people home again,” Afolabi said.

The managing director suggested that there should be a periodic review of national wages, based on contemporary indices