NITDA Highlights FG's Digital Reforms to Position Nigeria as Africa's Technology Hub

 

By Stella Odueme 

The Federal Government is implementing far-reaching digital economy reforms aimed at building a skilled workforce, stimulating technological innovation, expanding broadband access and strengthening Nigeria's digital infrastructure, the Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, has disclosed.

Inuwa stated this at the Global Tech Africa event in Kano, with the theme, “Connecting Africa, Accelerating Growth,” where he outlined the government's strategy for developing local technology capacity and positioning Nigeria as a competitive digital economy.

According to the Director of Corporate Communications and Media Relations, Mrs. Hadiza Umar, in a statement on Thursday, he said that the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu considers digital skills development and human capital investment essential to achieving sustainable economic growth and creating opportunities for Nigerians.

He identified the Three Million Technical Talent (3MTT) programme and the Digital Literacy for All (DL4ALL) initiative as key interventions designed to equip Nigerians with technical and foundational digital skills.

The NITDA chief explained that the government was also incorporating digital education into the formal school system, from kindergarten to tertiary level, to nurture a generation capable of developing homegrown technologies and competing in the global digital marketplace.

He said DL4ALL was working towards achieving 95 per cent digital literacy by 2030, noting that digital transformation should translate into improved productivity, business efficiency and economic prosperity rather than merely providing internet access and digital devices.

On support for technology entrepreneurs, Inuwa revealed that NITDA was collaborating with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) to establish six funds dedicated to financing startups and innovative businesses.

He also highlighted the role of the Bank of Industry and other development finance institutions in providing financial support to entrepreneurs.

He, however, called on private investors to play a more active role in the innovation ecosystem, stressing that government resources alone could not meet the funding requirements of the growing startup sector.

According to him, private-sector participation would provide startups with capital, equity partnerships, corporate governance structures and business expertise necessary for sustainable growth.

On connectivity, Inuwa said the Federal Government was working to extend fibre-optic infrastructure across the 774 Local Government Areas, all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

He emphasised that broadband expansion must be supported by adequate domestic computing facilities, explaining that this informed the development of NITDA's National Sovereign Cloud Initiative.

The initiative, he said, would strengthen Nigeria's computing capacity, safeguard digital sovereignty and enable the secure processing and storage of locally generated data within the country.

Describing data centres as critical assets in the digital economy, Inuwa said they serve as the computing backbone for converting raw data into valuable information, products and services.

He maintained that developing indigenous data centre capacity would reduce Nigeria's reliance on foreign infrastructure and strengthen its ambition to become the computing hub for West and Central Africa.

Speaking on artificial intelligence, the NITDA Director-General expressed concern that Africa accounts for less than two per cent of the data used in training AI models.

He called for greater African involvement in developing Large Language Models (LLMs) and other artificial intelligence applications that adequately represent local languages, cultures and socioeconomic conditions.

Inuwa also urged Kano to harness digital technology and opportunities under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to revive its historic position as a leading commercial centre connecting the Sahel region with other markets.

He noted that the emergence of e-commerce and changing trading patterns had reduced the need for buyers from neighbouring countries to travel physically to Kano to purchase goods.

He, however, said the state could regain its commercial relevance by adopting digital platforms that connect businesses in North Africa and the Middle East with markets across sub-Saharan Africa.