Director-General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Mallam Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, has disclosed that the Agency has identified the university as a key stakeholder in achieving the nation’s digital economy.
Abdullahi made this known while receiving a delegation from Yusuf Maitama Sule North-West University, Kano, led by the Acting Vice-Chancellor, Professor Aliyu Musa.
The delegation was on a courtesy visit to NITDA’s Corporate Headquarters to seek for the Agency’s intervention in the area of IT deployment and training.
Abdullahi stated that the greatest resources needed in achieving a developed country in terms of technology, innovations and entrepreneurship is human capital, adding that the University produces those human capitals.
He emphasized the need for a close collaboration between higher institutions, industry and government to enable a smooth flow of information on what is required so that the students can be trained accordingly.
The NITDA boss asserted that “we drive the knowledge-based economy and we need your support to develop the sector. The higher institutions are the primary place for anybody coming to the workplace as they have to pass through you to get all the knowledge to be in the workplace.”
“Never before has the need for a strong partnership between the industry and the university become more critical as it is today because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Nigeria, before now, relied on so many things from other countries but with the pandemic, we have realized that every country needs to build its capacity internally.”
Acting Vice-Chancellor of the University, Professor Aliyu Musa had earlier stated that the university was at the Agency to seek for collaboration and interventions in terms of virtual learning, IT infrastructure and training with the objective of developing ICT education through the University.
