Nigeria is targeting a share for the country from the estimated $25 billion to be generated from the online outsourcing industry by 2020. The target is being pursued by the Association of Outsourcing Practitioners of Nigeria (AOPN), which is the umbrella body of companies playing in the outsourcing market in the country.
Information Technology (IT) outsourcing or BPO is the practice of subcontracting responsibility for all or part of an IT function to a third party service provider that manages the work.
Speaking with New Telegraph in an interview, AOPN President, Mr. Austin Nweze, said that there was a need for Nigerian government to support outsourcing through regulation, which will serve as a legal framework, as the rules will help the association sanction erring members. Nweze explained that in the current era of technology convergence, there is need for government to put priority on developing the Business Outsourcing Processing (BPO) segment of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry.
“We have to look for a way to position Nigeria for the new challenges in the global technology market,” he said. He stated that unlike countries such as Indian and others, Nigeria has yet to effectively leverage online outsourcing as a potential sector for wealth creation.
“Yet, outsourcing presents huge opportunities for countries that are able to leverage it for the growth of its economy,” he argued. Online outsourcing, he said, provides broader access to specialised skills, more flexible and faster hiring processes, and 24- hour productivity; creates access to domestic and global job markets and a more flexible working environment and allows worker to develop skills and progress professionally.
While listing other benefits of outsourcing, Nweze said that it helps to reduce overheads, free up resources, minimise capital expenditure, eliminate investment in fixed infrastructure, offload noncore functions, redirect energy and personnel into the core business, free your executive team from day-to-day process problem, focus scarce resources on mission-critical projects and enhance tactical and strategic advantages.
They engage in Information Technology (IT) outsourcing, human resources outsourcing, data management and so on.” Consequently, Nweze said that Nigeria must not be left behind, stressing that the country has enough resources to match the achievements of “these already-developed- in-BPO countries.
“For Nigeria to reach its projected growth by 2020, we have to take advantage of the opportunity vested in outsourcing. It is my contention that outsourcing will boost our home grown business, increase gainful employment, and fast forward our economy generally,” he said.
Meanwhile, Nweze said that though Nigeria made efforts in 2007 to fast-track the development of outsourcing in the country, there was a need to strengthen such efforts to achieve its expected goals.
He said: “In January of 2007, outsourcing policy guidelines was launched by the Federal Government. One of the key thrusts of the policy is to promote an outstanding orientation starting with onshore outsourcing and progressing through near-shore to off-shore outsourcing by encouraging stakeholders involvement in developing a vibrant outsourcing sub-sector.”
The guidelines, it was learnt, are also targeted at growing Nigeria’s image internationally as the preferred outsourcing destination and ICT business hub by developing a global competitive information technology enabled services sector; and facilitating the development of appropriate Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure to support capacity building for quality service delivery in the outsourcing sector.
