By Olubunmi Adeniyi
Technology Times file photo shows an official of the Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN) explaining some operations at the IXPN Network Monitoring Centre based in Lagos. IXPN says it is commiting to promoting Internet growth in the country by keeping local traffic within the Nigerian border and saving money for the economy
Lagos. March 10, 2013: Muhammed Rudman, CEO, Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN) has affirmed the readiness of the exchange to promote growth of local content traffic in the country.
Rudman said this last week at an event tagged “Internet Governance and Cyber Security in Nigeria”, organized by DigitalSense Africa in collaboration with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
Rudman says that, “in IXPN, what we are trying to build is an effective local exchange point for everybody.”
He explains that local content broadly means the processing and diffusing information customised in a suitable format to fit the needs of a specific community.
Describing the categories of local e-content, he adds that some contents originates locally and are hosted internationally. On the other hand, there are also some local content of foreign origin hosted internationally for example, Google while others are produced locally and hosted locally.
While Rudman explains that contents that are produced locally and hosted locally are better for the growth of the nation’s economy, he laments that instead “most of our content originates locally and hosted internationally for example government, media, corporate websites.”
Rudman says that, “today, Nigeria is the eyeballs for the foreign contents because we are just consuming and not producing. We need to find a way of creating and hosting our content locally.”
One of the strengths of new ICTs such as the Internet the way they can help to unlock distant expertise, knowledge and markets, he says.
In Nigeria, Internet cost is expensive because of the transportation process the content pass through, cost will continue to increase as you move further away from the content, Rudman adds.
To reduce the cost, he says that IXPN is trying to promote localisation of local content in the various regions of the country.
In his address, Chris Uwaje, President, Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON) notes that indigenous software content and service delivery should be made a very high priority in Nigeria.
In addressing the problem of cyber security, which poses a serious challenge to content creation in the country, the ISPON President says that it is very for government to establish a national network security policy and standards.
This will control and protect the nation‘s electronic environment within the context of critical information infrastructure, where software represents the centre of gravity, according to him.
Tope Ogundipe, COO, Paradigm Initiative Nigeria (PIN), recalls that an Earnest & Young investigation has revealed that the cost of cyber crimes to the Nigerian economy is around $200 million.
He adds that PIN has also just concluded a documentary on the economic cost of cybercrime in Nigeria in partnership with Microsoft to sensitize awareness in this regard.
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