The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has said that Nigeria is realising its goal of a digital economy, where the country will generate more revenue from Information and Communication Technology (ICT) than crude oil.
Director-General of NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa, CCIE, stated this in Kaduna on Thursday at a One Day Stakeholder’s Engagement Program organised to create understanding between the Agency and its stakeholders in pursuit of Digitization and Entrepreneurial Evolution of Nigeria.
The Engagement Ring, which was tagged; ‘Creating Opportunities, Breaking Boundaries: Towards Digitization and Entrepreneurial Evolution,’ brought together Technology Solution Experts, Business Owners, Non-Governmental Organizations and Academics, amongst many others.
Declaring the Program open, the Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa, CCIE, represented by the Agency’s Director of Zonal Offices Directorate, Babajide Ajayi, said the meeting with the stakeholders cut across the Public and Private sectors, the Hubs, and every sector of the country was organised as part of efforts to realise the agency’s goal.
According to Kashifu, “We are engaging the vast stakeholders because we want to get to the level of the advanced countries, where we can generate more revenue from tapping into ICT than crude oil.”
“We are in the process of realising our dream of a booming digital economy. You will notice that our Ministry, formally known as Communications was changed to Communications and Digital Economy. This is not just for the sake of changing name but to ensure we achieve all forms of Digitization in this country.”
“In addition to that, our Policy Document, SRAP 2021-2024, that is our Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan, will serve as the guide to the Agency towards the realisation of Nigeria’s vision to digitization,” he said.
The NITDA boss added that, the Agency deemed it necessary that it collaborates more with its stakeholders, with a view to ensuring that developmental strides at the national level come down to the states and local government levels.
“In addition to that, we also need to hear from them where we are doing well and where they think we are not doing well enough. We have had similar engagement meetings in Gombe, Bauchi, Lagos, Ogun and Kano States. And we are getting a good response because there are things we didn’t even know about that are coming out, and we are taking these feedback back to Abuja to map out how we can have a better working relationship with the stakeholders,” he said.
Also speaking, the Head of North-West Zonal office of NITDA, Alhaji Sheikh Abubakar Lawan said the Agency was putting measures in place to address fraudulent activities associated with Information Technology which has being the fear of many stakeholders.
Some of the stakeholders who spoke at the event called for a closer working relationship between the Agency and stakeholders in Public and Private sectors towards ensuring speedy delivery of NITDA’s mandate.
