Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa, has emphasized the pivotal role of collaboration with stakeholders in the technology ecosystem to achieve a resilient and prosperous digital transformation for Nigeria by unveiling the Draft NITDA’s Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan 2.0.
The Director General who made these affirmations at the Omniverse Summit, held at the Landmark Event Centre, Lagos, highlighted the necessity of shared goals, resources, and knowledge to make a lasting impact on Nigeria’s digital future.
“Our vision for Nigeria is to digitally empower the nation by thriving on innovation and fostering inclusive economic growth through technology,” Inuwa stated.
While discussing the pillars in the Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan (2024-2027) SRAP 2.0, Inuwa stressed the importance of collaboration among the stakeholders and explained that the draft SRAP 2.0 document was unveiled to allow for Stakeholders’ input where necessary.
According to the NITDA Director-General, the roadmap focuses on eight strategic pillars, targeted at accelerating the digital transformation of all critical sectors of the economy as directed by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
He maintained that all the pillars in the SRAP 2.0 resonate with the strategic pillars of the Ministry of Communications, Innovations and Digital Economy blueprint tagged “Accelerating our Collective Prosperity through Technical Efficiency” which are Knowledge, Policy, Infrastructure, Innovation, entrepreneurship, and Capital, and Trade.
He revealed that the first pillar, fostering digital literacy and cultivating talent has an ambitious goal of achieving 70% digital literacy by 2027 through the implementation of the National Digital Literacy Framework as well as developing technical talents which is being implemented through one of the Ministry’s initiatives- “the 3 Million Technical Talent (3MTT),” designed to address the impending global talent deficit and position Nigeria as a leader in technological expertise.
Inuwa noted that the second pillar is to build a robust technology research system, aimed at putting Nigeria in the 25% in global ranking in research in six key areas of AI, IoT, Robotics, Additive Manufacturing, blockchain, and UAVs.
The third pillar emphasises the need to strengthen policy implementation and legal framework, with all ecosystem stakeholders contributing to achieving national goals.
He said, “Promoting inclusive access to digital infrastructure and services forms the fourth pillar which aims at connecting the unconnected by investing in learning centres and innovation hubs across the country.
“Strengthening Cybersecurity and enhancing digital trust is the fifth pillar. This addresses the importance of instilling confidence in digital platforms for its users,” he said.
He identified the sixth pillar as focusing on plans to nurture an innovative and entrepreneurial ecosystem, which will promote synergy in the industry and an enabling platform for digital transformation.
“While the seventh pillar is to forge strategic partnerships, and collaborations with external stakeholders as evident with the active partnership NITDA is building with the Omniverse platform, the eighth and last pillar of the SRAP is directed to cultivate a vibrant organizational culture and agile workforce within NITDA,” he added.
“We believe that by working together, we can transform Nigeria into a global digital powerhouse,” Inuwa declared, and subsequently invited stakeholders to download the soft copy of the roadmap, providing a QR code for easy access, and encouraging feedback to refine the document for collective success.
The Omniverse Summit is targeted at driving the digital economy on the continent. The summit explores the narratives about Africa and Africans, with a focus on how to regain control of these narratives to re-frame the future of economies, societies, and geopolitics.
The convener of the Omniverse Summit Obi Asika along with his team members, Charles Emembolu, Dr. Thwueba and Isioma Udeozo stated passionately during a panel session tagged “Why Omniverse? that the Omniverse is a collaborative platform, which is designed to bring people together.
The US Consul General, Mr. Will Stevens in his address affirmed that the dynamic digital innovation ecosystem in Nigeria has led to the creation of this crucial platform, emphasizing the nation’s role as Africa’s largest economy and democracy.
“However, there is an expressed need to protect intellectual property locally and create laws to support startups, ensuring innovators can safeguard their creations within the country.
“The imperative is to foster collaboration that goes beyond geographical boundaries and promotes a collective effort to tackle shared global challenges,” he concluded.
