A civil society group, the Transparency Advocacy Initiative Nigeria, says the country loses 3.8 billion dollars annually to the importation of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) goods and services.

Mr Adodo Solomon, the Publicity Secretary of the initiative, disclosed this to newsmen on Wednesday in Abuja.

According to Solomon, most of the goods imported can also be produced in Nigeria, if Nigerian youths are empowered.

“We can say that Nigeria presently loses over 3.8 billion dollars to the importation of ICT goods and services; these are goods and services that can be developed in Nigeria.

“If the proper partnerships are initiated, if the potential of the Nigerian youths are tapped into, this can be achieved.

“We are aware that the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) in its e-Nigeria programme last year invited youths, foreign producers and stakeholders on the field to begin production of ICT products locally.

“We believe that by the time this is pursued, the statistics would have dropped to 2.5 billion dollars.’’

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