State of OSS in Nigeria

OSOR has just published the first version of its report on the state of open source in Nigeria. This report offers an overview of the country’s recently initiated digital government reforms. Structuring 36 federated states, the Nigerian central government is also coordinating a wider policy work with the other member states of the African Union.

As such, there are currently no policies in Nigeria that mandate the use of open source software (OSS) in public administrations. However, the ongoing efforts at the federal level in Nigeria are focused on creating a more open and transparent government system through various forms of collaboration and governance.

While the institutionalisation of OSS has not yet occurred in Nigeria, the country’s economic standing places it at the forefront of innovation in West Africa. Nigeria boasts a significant open source community, led by two generations of developers who have spearheaded the local open source movement.

See https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/collection/open-source-observatory-osor/news/state-oss-nigeria

Address by Ms Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi, Minister for Public Service and Administration, at the third Idlelo Conference 17 March 2008 on FOSSFA

The address was made at the third Idlelo African Conference on Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) and the Digital Commons. The Minister commented about the Free Software movement in Africa as well as about the adoption of Open Standards and MIOS with a specific mention about ODF for exchanging office documents. She also commented about the leading vendor of office software who chose not to participate and support ODF in its products but rather to develop its own competing document standard which was then awaiting ISO approval.

The Minister also made comments about software patents and their anti-competitive nature.

Watch the video at https://youtu.be/dJ5E4EpYlSQ