By 
The National Population Commission (NPC) Census 2023 Task Force were in Lagos, at the weekend, to inspect the BETA Computers factory as a prelude to engaging the company as one of the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to supply hardware devices for the national census slated for next year.
The visitors expressed confidence in Beta Computers and other local OEMs during the visit.
“We are happy to get these devices in Nigeria. If we get them in Nigeria, why go outside? That will amount to capital flight. We need this money in Nigeria rather than flying it outside this country,” said Darlington Okereke, a federal commissioner in the NPC team.
RELATED: NITDA’s boss, Pantami, affirms faith in indigenous IT companies as patronage surges
BETA Computers, incorporated in 1989, has remained one of Nigeria’s foremost computer solutions providers and manufactures the SpeedStar range of PCs accredited by the Nigerian government.
Members of the NPC Task Force included three federal commissioners, the director general, four directors, and two other managers, all led by Federal Commissioner, Dr Clifford Zirra.The factory inspection was part of NPC’s compliance to the President’s Executive Order on local content adoption for all federal government’s projects.
“The visit to our factory by the NPC team was an eye opener to the team who said they were not quite aware that this type of local content capacity exists locally in Nigeria. With this knowledge they have now, we expect that they will have more confidence in patronising indigenous OEMs and indeed, be part of our cheer leaders to other MDAs who are still ‘unaware’ of the capacity that exists in-county to meet their PCs needs which we have been begging NITDA [National Information Technology Development Agency] to aggregate so that OEMs like us can proactively manufacture to meet their sustainable demands,” said BETA Computers Managing Director, Will Anyaegbunam.
According to Dr Zirra, the visit to BETA factory, one of the three indigenous PC manufacturers certified by the government for her local content development programmes, is to get acquainted with the company’s capacity and understand its production line in order to ensure that the NPC was partnering with the right company that can “deliver in terms of number and quality and real-time”
He said “the commission is on the verge of making history with the conducting of the very first digital census in Nigeria and possibly on the African continent by April 2023” and would need the right digital partners to deliver on this mandate.
Earlier, BETA Computer’s Board Chairman, Mr Isaac Orolugbabe, had commended the NPC taskforce for the visit even as he stressed the need for the commission to promote the growth of all the certified indigenous computer manufacturers so as to avoid a monopoly.
“While government monopoly is bad, private monopoly is worse as competition will lead to more benefits and reduced cost to consumers,” the chairman said.
BETA is a major player in the N-Power project and in 2018 supplied its SpeedStar brand, acclaimed by the regulatory bodies as the best quality device of all the indigenous brands in several government projects. The N-Power project was funded by the Bank of Industry and managed by the Office of the Vice President.
Anyaegunam assured that the company was ready to partner with the NPC. According to him, two commercial banks had earlier indicated they would be funding the NPC orders for the 2023 census exercise to ensure a no-hitch supply from the factory.
He said the BETA’s factory in Lagos and its associated partners’ factories in Nigeria, has capacity to produce over 150,000 devices in “12 weeks of NPC orders,” adding that the company has a robust sales support through its national network of partners in all the major cities to provide after-sales support service for all BETA devices.
“This NPC project will reflate all of us in the ecosystem to be gainfully employed including our partners whether in the north or south. In the north for example, Qitech Technologies is one the key partners and this project should impact on it and our other partners. A win-win for the economy and Nigeria,” Anyaegunam told IT Edge News.
An impressed Director General, Mr, Tellson Osifo, after the factory inspection said: there is indeed local content taking place here.” He said the commission would explore partnering with BETA beyond the 2023 census exercise.
COVER PICTURE: 3rd from left, BETA’MD addressing the members of NPC task force team that was led by Dr Clifford Zirra on his extreme left and the DG, Mr Tellson Osifo on his immediate right.
