The Director General of National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Dr Isa Pantami has revealed the new drive of the federal government and his agency in particular, saying Nigeria has outgrown aids and is matured for technology transfer, capacity building and domestication of foreign IT companies in Nigeria.
Explaining the new direction of the government during the visit of the representatives of Irish Universities and Institutes of Technology, who came under the aegis of Enterprise Ireland at the Agency’s Headquarters, Abuja, he revealed that NITDA offers scholarship programme to Nigerian youths in areas of IT or any related IT courses to study in foreign countries to acquire IT knowledge.
NITDA supports collaboration with reputable Institutions that would provide affordable and quality education to Nigerians.
Panatmi also pledged the Agency’s support for local content technologies, and solicited for more collaboration between Nigerian IT companies, and their Irish counterpart.
According to him, “Nigeria’s population provides a market full of opportunities for IT companies willing to domesticate and operate fully in Nigeria”, he added.
Responding, Mrs Gerald Gavin, of Limerick Institute of Technology earlier, revealed that the main aim of their visit was to pave way for more collaboration between Nigeria and Ireland, to boost the IT sector of both nations.
International statistics show that Ireland is a leading country in terms of education, with a long history of educating Nigerians in many professions, it is a global leader in ICT and the 2nd software exporter in the world, 9 out of 10 global ICT companies have a base in Ireland, she said.
