FG to democratize software testing, targets 50,000 testers in three years | The Guardian Nigeria News
The federal government is set to work with the Nigeria Software Testing Qualification Board (NGSTQB) to democratize software testing which will see licensed professionals providing the services in the country.
The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Pantami, made this known over the weekend by delivering his keynote speech at a one-day virtual workshop, organized by NGSTQB, on the theme : “The Role of Software Testing in Nigeria’s Digital Economy”.
Part of the plans is to help the country mitigate the influx of foreign and substandard software. About a year ago, experts told The Guardian that Nigeria was losing $400 million a year to foreign software developers, especially software license renewals without resorting to local software that could perform the same task.
But during the virtual meeting, Pantami sought NGSTQB’s cooperation to improve the software sub-sector of the economy. Represented by the Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa, the Minister said: “We want to see how we can authorize some of you to provide these services, this means that if I’m developing software, I have to come see a certified tester to make sure I’m meeting the quality assurance standard; all basic bug and vulnerability assessment before we can sell this software. »
He added: This will eliminate the fact that the market is loaded with vulnerable software. We’re working to empower one million developers over the next 18 months, and we know we can’t do it alone – that’s why we need people like you – to help us get there.
“We are already working with some multinationals to help us on this and we also need the indigenous people to participate in this initiative, and we also need as many testers as developers.”
Pantami said that to achieve the ambitious goal of 95% digital literacy, “we will need to build the literacy of citizens so that they understand and consume digital services.”
Former NGSTQB Chairman Boye Dare said the board intends to work diligently to ensure that Nigeria becomes the hub of the outsourcing software testing market in Africa.
Dare noted that through this effort, “we believe we can achieve this by working with key stakeholders from all different sectors in Nigeria by training and certifying 50,000 software testers over the next 36 months.”
NITDA’s Director of Information Technology Infrastructure Solutions, Dr. Usman Gambo Abdullahi, said that as part of the agency’s regulatory functions, she established the software testing and quality assurance framework. to strengthen the software ecosystem.
