Despite the fact that emerging technologies are fast evolving across the world and being deployed to solve various challenges, they are yet to be fully embraced in Nigeria, hence missing out in the opportunity to grow its economy. Abolaji Adebayo reports

Globally, technology has become the bedrock of socioeconomic development and growth. Apart from enhancing productivity in other sectors, technology has continued to generate huge revenue for the government. Indeed, technology has been growing to be the major source of revenue for some countries as both government and private sectors explore the economic value chains in the sector. It also improves individuals’ life by creating more businesses aside enhancing the existing businesses. In Nigeria, technology, though still evolving, has greatly helped economic growth. The youths are leveraging on the technology to create jobs yet, they have not really explored the emerging technologies to their advantages. While the country is yet to develop many aspects of technology, it has banked on Information and Communications Technology (ICT) while concentrating on telecommunications to grow the economy. The telecommunications sector is said to have contributed more percentage to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country. It was reported that the percentage is the largest contributed by the non-oil sector compared to other sectors of the economy including agriculture and manufacturing. It has been said that ICT sector has been consistently contributing above 10 per cent of Nigeria’s GDP for over 10 years, stating that as of the 4th quarter of 2020, the telecoms sector alone contributed 12.45 per cent to the GDP. The NCC EVC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, had stated that the sector was expected to contribute 35 per cent to the GDP in 2025. Recent data released by the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) disclosed that ICT sector alone contributed 16.20 per cent to Nigeria’s GDP in the first quarter of 2022 and 18.44 per cent in the second quarter of 2022. According to the data, the non-oil sector’s contribution grew by 4.77 per cent in real terms, resulting in a 93.67 per cent contribution to the nation’s GDP in the Q2’22. This was higher than Q2’21 and Q2’22, where it contributed 92.58 per cent and 93.37 per cent, respectively. The NBS data revealed that ICT dominated non-oil sector comprising economic activities in Information and Communication, Agriculture, Mining & Quarrying, Manufacturing and Education, etc. However, industry experts believe that there are still many untapped economic potentials and business opportunities to grow the small and medium enterprises in the emerging technologies such as IoT, AI, 5G and others.

New Techs

“Desk in an office miles away. Our refrigerator alerts us to buy milk on the way home. A package of cookies on the supermarket shelf suggests that we buy it, based on past purchases. “The cookies themselves are on the shelf because of a “smart” supply chain. When we get home, the thermostat has already adjusted the temperature so that it’s toasty or bracing, whichever we prefer. This is the Internet of Things, one of the emerging technologies – a networked world of connected devices, objects, and people,” Samuel Greengard,” an ICT expert explained. He described IoT as an emerging world and how it will change the way people live and work, noting that the Internet of Things (IoT) is still in its early stages. “Smart phones, cloud computing, Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) technology, sensors, and miniaturization are converging to make possible a new generation of embedded and immersive technology,” he added. According to the Chief Executive & Technology Officer, Datamello, Wale Adedeji, IoT is a serverless internet technology that connects everything, saying everything is being moved to the cloud ecosystem. He noted that the new technology used devices to help individuals, industries and business owners to maximise costs. He said cloud computing had become mainstream dominating the market across developed countries. “The Internet of Things describes physical objects with sensors, processing ability, software, and other technologies that connect and exchange data with other devices and systems over the Internet or other communications networks.”

Helping businesses

Adedejo noted that deployment of IoT reduces input costs for industries and business organisations. According to him, anybody using IoT has cut out the cost for servers as all their instruments are connected to the cloud. He noted that the organization pays little for the space it buys on the cloud. A tech expert, Ismail Salako, said the Internet helps the business to obtain data and analyses the information to create better and more effective products, marketing plans before investing money in product development, adding that it helps businesses to test and collect the data behind the idea of products and services. Speaking on the importance of the new technology, he said: “IoT helps businesses reduce costs. IoT solutions streamline existing processes across manufacturing, supply chain, production, and other industries. Streamlined operations minimize downtime and decrease costs. The manufacturing industry is the best example of cost reduction via IoT technology. “IoT is all about the enhancement of business processes and solutions with sensors, devices, gateways and platforms. By gathering all their data in one place, manufacturers can make intelligent decisions and design more efficient processes.” The Internet of Things helps businesses across industries. It is said that IoT facilitates tech interaction to promote digital transformation. In recent years, IoT adoption has skyrocketed in almost all industries in developed countries. The IoT market is expected to cross over $1300 billion globally by 2026 while it is projected to generate $4-11 trillion in economic value during the same period. Market research revealed that IoT has opened up new avenues for growth and optimisation. It was gathered that 83 percent of the organisations that implemented IoT technology have improved their efficiency. The research indicates that 80 per cent of manufacturing companies are planning to invest in IoT, while another 90 percent of retailers are planning to use the Internet of Things to customize the in-store experience. Recognising the numerous benefits of this technology, the business world is increasingly investing in IoT technology.

Data as new oil

“With IoT technology, your business can use every data point to achieve growth goals and optimize processes. Here are some of the ways IoT can benefit your business: IoT helps businesses reduce costs; IoT solutions streamline existing processes across manufacturing, supply chain, production, and other industries. Streamlined operations minimize downtime and decrease costs. “Factories use predictive maintenance technology to reduce downtime by up to 20-50% and save 5-10% in maintenance costs.

“IoT boosts productivity and profitability. IoT tech is helping businesses gather and analyze more data for a better customer experience.”

Creating business

The Datamellon boss noted that the new technology could create more businesses to grow the Nigerian economy if enabling environment is created by the government and supported by favorable policies. He stated that creating businesses using IoT systems required a combination of many key factors, saying technologies such as sensors and connectivity are key to creating a useable network of data. He said, however, that application and an effective data center infrastructure were also key. Adedeji said there was a dearth of experts in Nigeria to promote the technology. According to him, youths are being trained on the use of emerging technologies and for the deployment of the IoT technology in Nigeria. He noted that there were employment and business opportunities in the sector which is undergoing development in the country. “For the technology to spread across the country and for its benefit, we need experts and trained people for its deployment and that is why we are employing youths who are ready to develop themselves in the technology to make their livings. They don’t need to be experts, we are going to train them,” he said. Noting that the adoption of cloud computing is still growing, as more and more businesses migrate to a cloud solution, he said cloud computing had become mainstream, with major Amazon Web Services (AWS), deploying the tech in Nigeria.

Value chain

Apart from helping other businesses to grow, the Datamellon CEO said there are various businesses especially the small and medium enterprises that could be created along the value chains of the emerging technologies especially the IoT. For instance, he said the infrastructures used is a big business for those who would be making them available, especially in Nigeria. According to him, emerging technologies unearth new business opportunities, stating that 36 per cent of businesses discover new opportunities with IoT. Through the new technologies, he noted that businesses build new product lines and revenue models based on emerging patterns. “For example, insurers calculate premiums based on driving habits. Retailers plan their inventory levels and in-store display by recording consumer behavior. Marketers use IoTbased beacon tech to gather insights about consumers. Data analysis helps businesses adapt to change and create market-ready products.”

Last line

Experts believe that leveraging on the emerging technologies is the best way to enhance economic growth and bridge the unemployment gap in the country. Hence, there is need for the government to commit more fund and energy to the development of the emerging technologies and train more youths along the value chain of different technology fields.