Accenture, a leading global professional service firm, has lamented the falling status of the Naira, saying it is affecting the growth of technology in the country.
According to Accenture, the continuous slide of the Naira to less than 50 per cent of its value since April 2015 spelt serious technological development concerns and consequence for Nigeria, adding that it is such a worrying moment for businesses, technology and technology firms operating in the country.
A Senior Manager at Accenture, Michael Ogunjobi, observed that the treacherous slippage of the currency down the slope and alleyway of technology stagnancy or backwardness is to state mildly the resulting disaster or catastrophe that awaits technology stakeholders at all levels of the economy.
Ogunjobi, in a paper titled: “Impact of Free-Falling Naira on Technological Development in Nigeria,” argued that if not checked in time, may exacerbate. This, he said, will further send the country backwards from what is already an ‘eggshell’ fragile technology development onto a banana skin retrogression which could make other nations leave Nigeria further way behind.
He noted that the free-fall of the Naira has definitely surpassed the currency devaluation shocks of the late 1980s – 2010, which fuelled the exodus of thousands of young, intelligent and enterprising human resources in droves for better lives, new hope and new beginnings to the Western world.
According to him, in between the ‘mass exodus’ of the last two to three decades, the world has witnessed the advent, rise and boom of the Internet technology, which turned out to be a blessing to a large number of Nigerians in Diaspora, who seized the opportunity to retrain into new careers in IT.
“Over the last two decades, Nigerians living in the West have become one of the best sets of people that have great technology expertise, second only to Asians.
“While many Nigerian technology experts and professionals in Diaspora have done very well for themselves and for their adopted countries, most were no longer contemplating return to motherland. Until about five years ago when the country began to open its doors for their return through the attraction of fairly stable exchange rate and business’ willingness to pay fairly decent wages in return for the expertise provided, which made returning return home a bit more attractive.
“The availability of such indigenous experts in the country, no doubt, amplified implementation and technology delivery success rates which were the values they gave in return. To a large degree, businesses, local resources and Nigeria as a whole benefited from the arrangement that saw indigenous professionals back into the country.”
The Accenture chief noted that Nigeria has made more strides in the technology space in the last five years than the previous 15 years, largely due to the ‘Returnees’ coming back home with cutting edge skills, knowledge and enhanced work ethics, which to a large extent was made easier by the equilibrium struck between knowledge and reward.
“However, this stability is now being threatened by the disruption that has been rocking the Naira since last year, 2015. Recent decisions made by the government to stem the foreign exchange outflow from the economy, reduced crude oil prices and the alleged misappropriation of funds are few of the many factors causing unwillingness of technology professionals to return to Nigeria in the recent months. And, where they are willing to come to Nigeria, they are asking for 200 per cent+ of the usual 2015 earnings and in many cases demand to be paid in foreign currencies, which employers are finding harder to come by,” he stated.
He argued that the economic cycle in which Nigeria finds itself has yielded more cons than pros such that business and technology development have been slowed down considerably as the exchange rate saga plays out.
