By Seun Adams
The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has stressed that it has the mandate and a commitment to creating life-transforming opportunities for women and youth that can create a positive domino effect within our societies and foster digital innovation among Nigerians.
Speaking at a town hall meeting organized by ECOWAS Female Parliamentarian Association (ECOFEPA) in Abuja, the Director General of NITDA, Mr. Kashifu Inuwa, explained that the agency has several programmes and initiatives aimed at boosting local innovative capacity, such as the Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Support (TIES) Scheme, idea Hatch (iHatch) Startup Incubation Programme, Bridge to Mass Challenge Nigeria, NINJA Acceleration Programme, North-East Startup Training (NEST), virtual and nano internships, Learn, Teach and Earn programme and MIT-REAP Abuja.
The Theme for the Town-hall Meeting is: “Stimulating a Regional Dynamic for Mentoring the Next Generation of Decision Makers”, he said is very apt realizing that one of our greatest assets are the youths who play a significant role in shaping the future of digital transformation, the utilization of technology and innovation in all sectors of a nation’s digital economy impacts its growth, economic well-being, and survivability.
By harnessing these disruptive, innovative technologies, Inuwa, said countries can create wealth, generate jobs, diversify the economy, and open more opportunities to expand their economic fortunes.
He said: “The National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) for a digital Nigeria has been designed and spearheaded by the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Pantami, for Nigeria to fully harness the potentials of the digital economy giving special consideration to our areas of strength and comparative advantage which are the youths and women.”
Accordingly, NITDA is primarily implementing the NDEPS and has drawn out its Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan (SRAP 2021 – 2024). The SRAP, which has seven strategic pillars, focuses on investing in Nigeria’s youth, building capacities in innovative and disruptive technologies and facilitating Nigeria’s digital transformation, he added.
NITDA has taken many steps to drive national prosperity by boosting digital innovation for Nigerian women and youths by creating an enabling environment that maximizes their potential and promotes their ability to contribute to the economy.
Coincidentally, this aligns with the town hall meeting’s objective of developing skills vital for employability, parliamentary business, professional development, balanced family life, and career success.
Women and youths are the biggest drivers of innovation, which is considered a vital key to the prosperity of our great nation.
Market-creating innovations have the potential to not only transform economies but address development and humanitarian challenges, and spark innovative and creative solutions that meet needs and promote empowerment, hence the need for an all-inclusive digital economy.
As Africa’s largest economy, the increased participation of our tech-savvy youth and women is a prerequisite for sustainable development.
It is worth noting that the Council on Foreign Relations (CoFR) estimates that Nigeria can gain US$229 billion in GDP growth if women’s participation in digital economy sectors nears parity.
This means that a larger share of the global digital economy will be fully harnessed, which the World Economic Forum (WEF) projects to be worth US$20.8 trillion by 2025.
NITDA has a mandate and a commitment to creating life-transforming opportunities for women and youth that can create a positive domino effect within our societies and foster digital innovation among Nigerians.
To that note, the agency has several programmes and initiatives aimed at boosting local innovative capacity, such as the Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Support (TIES) Scheme, idea Hatch (iHatch) Startup Incubation Programme, Bridge to Mass Challenge Nigeria, NINJA Acceleration Programme, North-East Startup Training (NEST), virtual and nano internships, Learn, Teach and Earn programme and MIT-REAP Abuja.
Nigeria has seen an investment inflow of US$4.4 billion into the startup ecosystem in the last four years.
In 2020, Professor Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami) commissioned the National Center for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (NCAIR), which is NITDA’s Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), to drive cutting-edge innovations in emerging technologies through robust research and development programmes. The Center also has Nigeria’s first digital fabrication lab (Abuja FabLab 1.0) that serves as a technical prototyping platform for innovation and invention to innovators and enthusiasts alike.
The Office for Nigerian Digital Innovation (ONDI), another NITDA SPV, is responsible for incubating ideas and developing an enabling environment for startups to thrive. Through ONDI, the Agency has worked with foreign-based collaborators to support 753 youth-led startups through grants and sponsorships to local and global conferences, exhibitions and acceleration and incubation programmes. This has led to the creation of 33,500 jobs in the country.
We have also conducted capacity-building programmes specifically catered to women in ICT and entrepreneurship. With over 560 women trained across the various geopolitical zones, the implementation of this initiative has contributed to increased awareness, knowledge, and use of business tools that women can use to promote their entrepreneurial and career pursuits, increase their access to distance learning, distance work programs and opportunities, and improve their access to finance.
Moreover, we are collaborating with the World Bank to implement a programme called “Gina Mata, Gina Al-Umma,” loosely translated as “Build up women, build the community” with the aim of training and equipping at least 800 young girls and women with technical training skills and soft skills relevant to the freelance tech industry. This initiative is implemented with the goal of ensuring Nigeria is closer to achieving its 95% digital literacy goal by 2030, he added.
“It is also worth mentioning that, in collaboration with stakeholders, NITDA has trained over 3.3 million Nigerians from all works of life in various facets of IT such as Cybersecurity, Digital Literacy, Artificial Intelligence, and Cloud Computing in an attempt to improve efficiency in our sector, and also enable public servants to meet up with the demands of today.
“The agency’s efforts are not only restricted to capacity-building programmes and initiatives. In collaboration with Nigeria’s tech ecosystem, the Presidency, and the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, the Agency worked on the Nigerian Startup Act, which will serve as a key means for harnessing the potential of our digital economy by providing an enabling environment that can foster the growth and development of innovation in our local startups. This key regulation will put Nigeria in a position to take advantage of the African Digital Economy estimated to be worth US$300 billion by 2025, as reported by McKinsey.
“The National Policy for the Promotion of Indigenous Content was developed to address the trend of high consumption of foreign hardware and software products, especially in Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs). The policy ensures increased procurement of Nigerian-made goods and services over foreign goods for MDAs to develop the local ICT industry and boost indigenous innovation.” The DG, stated.
According to him, the agency is also developing a Gender Digital Inclusion Strategy, which has identified the barriers that impede women from utilizing and gaining the benefits of their inclusion in IT. This strategy will outline the steps that will be taken to bridge the gap that exists in our digital economy and a National Digital Talent Strategy, which identifies the skills necessary to bridge the existing skills gap.
“I commend ECOFEPA for their continuous efforts to ensure women and youth have a voice. These sects of our national population must be able to see the potential they wield and accordingly harness and use such potential for the benefit of our nation.” Inuwa, said.