In a bid to achieve its ambitious goal of 95% digital literacy by 2030, the Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa CCIE, urged participants at the “Ogun Digital Summit” to take their innovative ideas from conception to impact and commercialize their technologies to help grow the Nation’s digital economy.
Inuwa said this while delivering a keynote speech at the summit on the theme: “Digital technology: the key to a sustainable future »encouraging young people to see Tech as the present and the future of today’s world.
“When you talk about innovation and technology, human talents are the main components to drive both, as such we need universities, institutions and enterprises to be part of the system as they play a key role in the production of the necessary talents that can solve the company’s identified problems”he noted.
Inuwa listed the federal government’s efforts in the areas of policymaking, creating an enabling environment, legislation, digital literacy, among others, which he pointed out are all aimed at to ensure that the country’s young innovators and entrepreneurs thrive in the fields of their choice.
“In 2019, President Muhammadu Buhari renamed the ministry to cover the digital economy. This action implies that the federal government is interested in the strength of your ingenuity and wants you to leverage information technology (IT) for economic prosperity. The action also puts Nigeria on the digital map of the global economy,” he asserted.
Inuwa went further to remind young minds that President Muhammadu Buhari also unveiled the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) for a Digital Nigeria, which is a fundamental policy for the digital economy and the digital innovation.
NITDA has, for its part, underlined the Director General, developed the Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan (SRAP), under the supervision of the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy to help them succeed.
He analyzed the seven pillars of the document where he mentioned that the essence of the digital literacy and skills pillar is to ensure that 95% of Nigerians are digitally inclined, can understand and enjoy digital services.
Inuwa added that the big picture is to build the Nation’s digital services in the country and not buy off-the-shelf services elsewhere, and challenged the youth to think globally while solving problems. local.
“The government can’t give everyone seed money or grants at the same time that’s why you have to think outside the box and have something an investor would be interested in, that way you would have had the funds needed to develop your products and services without the clutter of sometimes tiring government bureaucracies,” he advised.
The NITDA boss expressed hope that some of the attendees, who were mostly young people from the state, will be among the one million developers the agency expects to train in 18 months.
“Globally, there is a talent shortage, so we are creating a mandate to develop a talent strategy because we have a competitive advantage as a country with our vast human and natural resources. Nigeria can seize the opportunity to fill this gap,” the DG added
The DG further noted that innovation will help create a sustainable future for Nigeria and Nigerians.
“Digital technology inspires you to be great innovators and solve any problem you can think of.Inuwa said.
He also observed the world’s growing reliance on technology to be able to do or avoid certain things, adding that the data created by the daily activities of humans that is captured by digital devices can be used to innovate.
“They say data is the new oil, but to me it’s more than oil because data is endless, the more you use it the more you create. So this is an opportunity for you to harness it and so we can achieve the sustainable future we seek,” Inuwa maintained.
Inuwa informed participants that the Start-up Bill, which is now law and will be implemented by NITDA and other relevant agencies, will resolve most if not all of the bottlenecks encountered in the ecosystem.
Acting on the mandate of the agency, the Chief Executive has pledged to provide a digital center at St. Peters Anglican Primary School, 1 Isara, Remo North, Ogun State.
The participants took turns to share their thoughts and challenges and offered solutions to the problems discussed during the roundtables.
The third edition of the Ogun Digital Summit, which brought together citizens of the state with the aim of connecting and encouraging inspiration to create new opportunities through innovation, was themed: “DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY, KEY FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE”.
