The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), in its ongoing endeavor to establish Nigeria as a globally renowned center of technology and innovation to promote economic diversification and increase productivity in all areas, is prepared to work with pertinent organizations to efficiently cascade the advantages of digital technology to each and every local government in the nation.
The Senior Special Advisers to the President on Community Engagement for the South East, Barr Chioma Nweze; the South West, Ms. Moremi Ojudu; and the North West, Hon. Abdallah Tanko Yakassai, visited the Agency to discuss potential areas of collaboration on Nigeria’s digital transformation journey. This information was revealed by NITDA Director General, Kashifu Inuwa CCIE. This gesture is completely consistent with the top priorities of the current administration, especially with regard to restructuring the economy to promote inclusive growth that is sustained.
The NITDA DG outlined the agency’s vision for Nigeria, emphasizing how technological innovation will promote inclusive economic growth, and said the vision is in line with the president’s eight priority areas.
The President’s agenda included strengthening national security for peace and prosperity, accelerating diversification through digitization, industrialization, creative art, and innovation, improving governance for efficient service delivery to citizens, boosting infrastructure and transportation as growth enablers, boosting agriculture to achieve food security, and focusing on education, health, and social investment as development enablers.
He continued by saying that the agency had just finished developing its Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan (SRAP 2.0) 2024–2027, and that the President will be able to accomplish all of his priorities with the support of this plan’s pillars.
While listing the eight SRAP pillars, Inuwa singled out “Foster Digital Literacy and Cultivate Talents” as one of the most crucial ones because it is the cornerstone of the document’s inclusivity.
“We developed the National Digital Literacy Framework with an ambitious target of achieving 95% digital literacy by 2030 but Mr. President cited a mid-term target for us to achieve 70% by 2027,” the speaker said. “To ensure we are inclusive, we need to get our citizens to be digitally literate.”
He went on to say that the organization is working with the Ministry of Education to integrate digital literacy into the curricula of all academic institutions and is also creating standard training programs that require certification in order to be hired by the government.
“We have already collaborated with the Head of Service to mandate digital literacy for government employees. However, in order to use digital devices to access internet banking, government digital services, and other content, market participants, artisans, and others must be literate. As a result, we have been taking advantage of numerous platforms to distribute them, including radio, social media, TV shows, roadshows, and so forth, he claimed.
According to the NITDA Head, the Ministry of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy launched the 3 Million Tech Talent program as an additional effort to identify skill gaps in the nation and develop young people’s capacity for highly sought-after skills both domestically and abroad.
“Since we began the training, we have trained over 30,000 people and finished the pilot program, which is the first phase. The second part of the training is currently being conducted,” he stated.
While providing in-depth analysis of the remaining seven strategic pillars—creating a resilient ecosystem for technology research; bolstering the legal and policy framework; encouraging equitable access to digital infrastructure and services; enhancing digital trust and strengthening cybersecurity; and fostering an ecosystem for innovation and entrepreneurship— Establishing Strategic Alliances and Cooperations, and lastly, Fostering a Bright Corporate Culture and an Agile Workforce in NITDA, Inuwa disclosed the different facilities, creative fixes, grants, and educational initiatives the government has been providing across the country.
In his remarks, Hon. Yakassai commended the DG NITDA for his excellent presentation, which included insights into the agency’s numerous initiatives to guarantee a digitally empowered nation through enhancing Nigerians’ digital capacities.
On the other hand, he conveyed the readiness of his group to work with the organization to disseminate its initiatives to all 774 local governments nationwide.
“We need to show the people the importance of your programs and how they can key into it,” the President said. “Mr. President is a grassroots person, which is why he created this office to ensure that whatever the government is doing is taken down to the grassroots level.”
Group photo of the DG NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa CCIE (middle) alongside Director CAER, NITDA, Hadiza Umar (right) SSA to the President, Comm. Eng. S/W Ms Moremi Ojudu(2nd right), SSA to the President, Comm. Eng. S/E, Barr Chioma Nweze (3rd left), SSA to the President, Comm. Eng. N/W, Hon Abdallah Tanko Yakassai (2nd left) and Member, NITDA Strategic Team, Ms Dayo Johnson (left)
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