Nigeria's ICT companies and entrepreneurs will play a key role in reversing recent economic troubles that saw the country slip into recession for the first time in more than ten years. While the prominent role played by the ICT industry has been acknowledged by President Muhammadu Buhari, including during the United States-Africa Business Forum last month, a call has been made for the government to tap into the potential of the sector in order to speed up and economic recovery.

Magnus Nmonwu, Regional Director for Sage in West Africa, says Nigeria's recession can end within the next twenty four months with the help of the technology sector and start-up entrepreneurs in particular.

"Nigeria is technically in a recession with the fluctuation of the exchange rate which is now sitting at N440 (to the dollar) in the black market and hovers around N220 to N330 in the banking sector. The entrepreneurs are the engine for a recovery and we can get out of recession faster when government supports more of the entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs in Nigeria are the driving hope. They come from all industries and they are opening new business in retail, in accounting and in software. The reality is that entrepreneurs are springing up and people are leaving paid employment and starting businesses. Supporting them will give us the opportunity to get out of recession faster."

Nmonwu says Nigeria's ICT companies and startups can grow with support and infrastructure and the creation of sources of revenue by the government. He adds that while the company's latest financial results are yet to be released, less than four years ago Sage was considered to be only an enterprise software startup company - and part of the reason for their success has been cooperation with Nigeria's authorities.

"For me one of the things I tell companies coming into Nigeria is that you need to set your tone right and make sure that you are compliant because if you are not compliant you can get kicked out. If you pick a few of the telcos including Airtel, MTN and even indigenous ones like Glo for example, they have also revolutionised and they are still profitable. If you look at the problems MTN had earlier this year with the fine from the National Assembly it is all about making sure that you do the right thing. If you do the right thing you won't get penalised and you can still run business. You need to get the right people, infrastructure and governance policies in place in order to survive in Nigeria."

Claude Schuck, Regional Manager for Africa at backup and disaster recovery firm Veeam, which released its financial results this week showing an 18% year-over-year growth in total bookings revenue for Q3 2016, says Nigeria is a challenging market although his company has shown growth in the region as a whole.

"In terms of the economies in Africa it is Nigeria and Angola that have taken a big hit. If you have an economy that is very reliant on oil, that is what sometimes happens. We are seeing some nice growth in Kenya where we've got a few partners offering hosted services.They seem to be pushing the envelope when it comes to back-up as a service, which is growing. Our major focus is not Nigeria and Angola, but we are looking at 2017 to rectify that."

Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, newly appointed Director-General for Nigeria's National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), says the launch of a National e-Agriculture Web Portal (NEAWP) project this month is motivated by the belief that Nigeria's agricultural sector has the potential to provide an alternative to the dwindling income from petroleum products and that NITDA can significantly improve this potential by using ICT to drive the sector.

Dr Pantami was appointed by President Buhari in September to lead NITDA which co-ordinates general IT development in Nigeria.