By Hillary Asemota
The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) on Saturday quoted statista.com as saying that the total value of digital payments in 2021 stood at $7.52 trillion with digital commerce accounting for more than 50%.
The Director General of NITDA, Mallam Kashifu Inuwa, who spoke at the Young/Startups Developers Festival 2022 in Abuja assured that over 1 million Nigerian youths will be digitally empowered to remain relevant on the global stage while at the same time contributing to the growth of the Nigerian economy.
The DG who was represented by Mrs. Amina Sambo, Director in charge of Digital Literacy and Capacity Development, said software is the glue which forms the foundation for the connected digital economy.
He added that digital economy is nothing more than the billions of transactions that happen online, which depends on interconnectedness via the Internet.
The DG reiterated that modern economies all over the world are driven by or directly affected by the digital economic sector, explaining that governments have realised this connection and have put policies in place to create favourable conditions for businesses, startups and individuals to thrive.
“Such is the relevance of the digital economy that almost all economic policies carry a digital component. In Nigeria, one of the mandates of NITDA is to create the necessary enabling environment and facilitate private sector and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the IT sector. Something we have rigorously pursued.
“The last 2 years have seen a rapid adoption of digital transformation in all sectors of the economy. This development has placed a very huge demand for people with digital skills. More and more individuals and businesses are becoming open to carrying out online transactions and consuming digital products. This socioeconomic shift will be written in history.
The digital economy, Inuwa said, can only operate based on the relationships between individuals, businesses, infrastructure, and the regulatory policies that govern the processes that exist between them. The digital economy is an ecosystem made up of numerous players and software developers play a key role in this ecosystem.
In line with NITDA’s mandate we have sought and established key partnerships with organisations across Nigeria. NITDA has conducted over thirty-six thousand, six hundred and sixty-two digital literacy trainings across Nigeria, the NITDA boss, said.
“It is worthy of note that GDG Abuja partnered with NITDA to support capacity building programmes in programming, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. The experts that conducted these trainings came from within your community of developers. We hope to continue such partnerships in digital capacity building so that developers like you can learn, teach, and earn.
“Several African countries are turning to their digital economic sector in order to ensure they have a competitive edge on the continent. Nigeria is no different. NITDA with support from its supervising ministry, the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy are putting strategies and policies in place to create a conducive environment for software developers, startups, organisations, and the ecosystem as a whole.”
Inuwa expressed happiness that the startup Act came into being with the aim of bridging the disconnect of government and the thriving startup ecosystem in Nigeria.
According to him, government has seen a lot of potential for growth within the Nigeria digital economy and funds have been set aside to support startups that solve the everyday problems of Nigerians. This begs the question, how can you as a developer thrive and help the growth of the digital economy in Nigeria?
The DG, added that eyes of the world have been opened to the power of startups and no one is in a better position to solve local problems in Nigeria other that you the developers that understand the society intimately, stressing that government has schemes and funds to help support local startups that have viable ideas.
“Do not be deterred by the possibility of failure as success in any form is a product of failure.” The NITDA DG, said.
Speaking further, he said: “Today is really exciting, seeing our youths come together for corporate growth, it is really commendable and this sort of Developers/Startups Group gives them opportunity to come together to socialize and mentorship.
“They are not just here for fun and they are here to impact on their academics with strong opportunities to become startups and they have opportunities to access digital jobs and so our youths are ready understanding the opportunities that comes with technology.
“They are not just waiting for government to create opportunities for them they are doing it organically from the bottom up and it is an outstanding opportunity. I’m so glad to be here. It is also very interesting that our youths are building the right talent to access the global opportunities that are out there.
Fielding questions at the sideline of the event, the Lead Organizer of Google Developers Group (GDG), Mr. Bulama Yusuf, said the DevFest event offers opportunity for young developers and budding startups to come together to share ideas and network for self-actualization and development.
He said: “Developers love learning and they will learn from anyone who has something to offer and what we do also is to bring experts and leaders in the industry to events like and through this the young developers are already empowered by the tools that they use every day, they can ask questions and talk directly to the developers to improve themselves and become better.
While encouraging Nigerians on prospect to grow the economy with ICT, he added that the prospects and opportunities available in technology are immense and this opportunity have transforming power.
“If you have developers who can solve problems and those skills are in demand across the world such a developer can from Nigeria remotely for companies abroad and earn their money in foreign currencies.” Yusuf, said.