Dr Dan-Azumi Ibrahim, the Director-General, National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP) on Thursday said that the agency was working towards ensuring that all technologies in the country would run on Nigerian software.

Ibrahim made this known on Thursday in Lagos, during the Maiden Edition of the Tourism and Technology Summit 2019.

The director-general was represented by the Principal Technology Officer of NOTAP, Mr John Omesili.

He said significant progress that supported this narrative was already on ground.

“Today using pay stack, we can directly charge cards and allow payments to be made to local businesses”.

“We have an online travel websites such as Wakanow and hotels-finding service, hotels.ng. These brands use software to run their businesses; they show how ICT and Tourism can work together to bring desirable products to the market place,” Ibrahim said.

According to GlobalData 2018 Report, Technology Trends in Travel & Tourism, technology is fostering a change in the travel and tourism industry regarding how companies interact with customers.

“Consequently, travel companies are adopting various technologies to improve operational efficiencies and meet customers’ expectations at every stage of their journey,” he said.

Ibrahim said that looking into the future, there were six trends to watch out for in the tourism industry.

He said that the six trends included: Augmented and Virtual Reality (AR/VR), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), Voice Technology, Wi-Fi Connectivity and Wearable Devices.

The NOTAP boss said that Nigerians could leverage on these trends to create new realities in the tourism space.

According to him, Nigeria has the best brains around the world and it must use them.

He said that Nigeria could be the first country to sell or franchise Virtual Reality software for the Digital Tourism in the world.

Ibrahim said that using real time location sensors, the country could create digital experiences never imagined.

“We have no other country than Nigeria and it is the result of our collective efforts that can make our country great and an investment hotbed.

“Our collective efforts can make our country one that is adequately supported by the tourism sector, creating sights, sound experiences and stories that will by all means further a better Nigerian narrative.

“I am sure that the effective utilisation of Nigerian technological and innovative intelligence in this sub-sector would go a long way to stabilise the economy and move our country to the next level of economic prosperity,” he said.

Ibrahim lamented that 60 per cent of technologies used in Nigeria are foreign.

He said that the cost of using foreign technologies was enormous, with minimal contribution toward reducing the unemployment level in the country.

“Presently, about 55 to 60 per cent of technologies utilised within the Nigerian economy are foreign ICT based,” Ibrahim said.

According to him, to manage the situation, NOTAP in collaboration with the World Intellectual Property (WIPO), Central Bank of Nigeria and other stakeholders developed the Local Vendor Policy in 2007.

“The Local Vendor Policy is to strategically engage local Information and Communications Technology (ICT) firms on the implementation of foreign software agreements in Nigeria.

“The policy came into effect in 2010 and about 10 indigenous ICT firms are currently participating in the implementation of foreign technology transfer agreements.

“Some of these firms have developed competencies and capacities to be listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE),” Ibrahim said. (NAN)