Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency ( NITDA), Mallam Kashifu Inuwa has stated that the Agency is targeting to protect and create a million jobs in the ICT sector this year.
Inuwa made this known on Monday during a virtual submission of the report of the NITDA Advisory Committee on the Impact of COVID-19 on the Technology and Innovation Ecosystem also known as Tech4Covid19.
Tech4Covid19 Advisory Committee was constituted at the wake of the pandemic in Nigeria, precisely on April 1, 2020, at the instance of the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami to come up with measures to be taken to cushion the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on start-ups, small and medium businesses as well as the technology ecosystem in general.
The 10 member Advisory committee was given the term of reference to, among others, device suitable strategies for the provision of affordable internet access to individuals and businesses; develop a framework to facilitate access to financing for tech and tech-enabled ventures, and device modalities for encouraging the development and adoption of digital technology, as well as support policies in line with the “Work from Home” directive of the federal government.
The NITDA boss maintained that based on the discussion he had with the minister, the government is targeting to create or retain one million jobs in the ICT sector this year.
He stated that they are looking at many different areas in terms of start-ups doing agricultural value chains, empowering hubs, developing and implementing the framework of business process outsourcing and other areas, to see how thousands of jobs can be created directly or indirectly.
“In doing so, I urge the committee to develop a business plan; stating facts and figures on how the IT sector will create and protect jobs. What I want from the committee are two things: One for example, you state that we have a 100,000-workforce and if the government does not do anything to intervene during this pandemic, we are going to lose the 100,000 jobs.
“Or if the government intervenes by doing some certain things, we are going to retain all the 100,000 jobs and create additional 30,000 jobs.”
He affirmed that if there are facts and figures to present to the government, they will intervene quickly as job creation is one of its top priorities.
Furthermore, Inuwa asserted that for the government to have full understanding and confidence that the IT sector will contribute greatly in terms of job creation, the facts and figures must be justifiable and accurate.
He emphasized that the committee is not to address the pre- COVID-19 issues, but to look into the issues and challenges of the In-COVID-19 and prepare the nation for the post-COVID-19 world.
“We all believe that a lot of things will change after this pandemic. Some believe that the 4th industrial revolution will take place, as such, we need to unlock these hidden opportunities or identify the silver lining which is the Digital First and keep businesses up and running.
“A lot of technologies will come on board and people will embrace them. A lot of things are going to change and a lot of businesses are going to be powered by technologies.”
Concerning the recommendations, the NITDA DG assured the committee that NITDA and the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami will do everything possible in their capacity to see that all the highlighted recommendations in the 4 critical areas are tackled accordingly.
