Digital Economy: NITDA wants strong synergy with stakeholders

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has called for better synergy among stakeholders that would ensure the digital economy agenda was achieved.

The Director-General of NITDA, Mr Kashifu Inuwa made the call in a statement by Mrs Hadiza Umar, Head, Cooperate Affairs and External Relations of the agency in Abuja on Tuesday.

Inuwa called for the synergy when he paid a working visit to some ICT stakeholders in Lagos which included MainOne and its subsidiary MDXi,both, broadband infrastructure company.

The visits were targeted at sharing the agency’s newly unveiled Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan (SRAP) 2021 to 2024, crafted in line with the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy.

He said, “NITDA cannot achieve all its mandates by working in isolation and MainOne being a critical stakeholder, it is imperative for the two organisations to partner.

“We expect you to always be on board and constantly informing the agency on what you need to achieve because government is an enabler and the agency can only enable what the stakeholders put forward.”

He further said that the country was blessed with the three key fundamentals that would enable the digital economy drive.

According to him, we have the human capital, infrastructure and demand creation.

He added that the nation was focusing on the Strategic Roadmap for the stimulation of the demand within the sector so as to have value and good use of the infrastructure.

Inuwa listed the seven pillars of the SRAP as Developmental Regulations, Digital Transformation, Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Cyber Security, Emerging Technologies, Digital Literacy and Skill as well as Promotion of Indigenous Contents.

All the pillars, he said, would unlock opportunities inherent in digital economy and also ignite demand as well as innovation in the ecosystem.

“The ideas behind the pillars are to ensure that Nigerians utilise indigenous ICT products rather than procuring foreign services.

“How can we get our people to use your services? We don’t want to see them taking it outside the countries and this can only be achieved with closer partnership,” Kashifu stated.

The Chief Operating Officer (COO) of MDXi, Mr Gbenga Adegbiji, said technology was going to shape the future and with little incentives, they would enable the next digital frontier.

He promised that they would keep making efforts to ensure and provide the enabling environment while the governments make policies that could ignite the sector.

According to him, a robust partnership between NITDA and IT private firms would go a long way in encouraging people to make use of more locally sourced services.