The Federal Government is set to collaborate with the Nigeria Software Testing Qualification Board (NGSTQB) in democratising software testing, which will see licensed professionals providing the services in the country.

Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Pantami, made this known at the weekend while delivering his keynote address at a one-day virtual workshop, organised by NGSTQB, themed: “Role of Software Testing in Nigeria’s Digital Economy.”

Part of the plans is to help the country mitigate influx of foreign and substandard software. About a year ago, experts told The Guardian that Nigeria loses $400 million yearly to foreign software developers, especially software licence renewals without recourse to indigenous software that could perform same task.

But at the virtual meeting, Pantami sought NGSTQB’s cooperation in improving the software sub-sector of the economy. Represented by Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa, the minister stated: “We want to see how we can license some of you to provide these services, that means if I develop software, I need to come to a certified tester to make sure I meet the standard quality assurance; all the basic bug-free and the vulnerability assessment before I am able to sell that software.”

He added that this will eliminate having the market loaded with vulnerable software.

SOURCE: GUARDIAN