By Kingsley I. Ilechukwu, Correspondent Lagos
In an effort at deepening the contribution of the digital economy to Nigeria’s economic growth, the National Information Technology Development Agency, (NITDA) has called for formation of strong synergy between the Agency and Information Technology stakeholders in the country.
Abdullahi made the call at MainOne Data Centre during his three-day working visit to Lagos state, south west, Nigeria, recently.
The NITDA DG noted that the purpose of the Agency working visit to Lagos was to advance collaborations among the NITDA and the IT ecosystem, adding that “the visit would also allow us to share our newly unveiled Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan for 2021-2024 which was crafted in line with the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy for Digital Nigeria”.
According to Abdullahi, NITDA could not achieve all its mandates by working in isolation and MainOne being a critical stakeholder, it was imperative for the two organisations to partner. “We expect you to always be on board and constantly informing the Agency on what you need to achieve because government is an enabler and the Agency can only enable what the stakeholders put forward,” he added.
He stated further that there were three key elements for attainment of robust digital economy which he said were human capital, infrastructure and demand creation. “Nigeria is blessed with all three elements. As a nation, what we are focusing on with the Strategic Roadmap is stimulation of the demand within the sector so as to have volume and use of the infrastructure.”
While listing the seven strategic pillars the Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan is anchored namely Developmental Regulations; Digital Transformation; Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship; Cyber Security; Emerging Technologies; Digital Literacy and Skill; and Promotion of Indigenous Contents, Abdullahi stated that the pillars would unlock opportunities inherent in digital economy and also ignite demand as well as innovation in the ecosystem.
He said, the ideas behind the pillars were to ensure that Nigerians utilized indigenous rather than procuring foreign services. “How can we get our people to use your services? We don’t want to see them taking it outside the countries and this can only be achieved with closer partnership,” Abdullahi stated.
In his remarks, MDXi Chief Operating Officer(COO), Gbenga Adegbiji said technology was going to shape the future and data centers and digital infrastructure was the next oil, fiber lines as the pipelines and the data centers as oil rigs. With little incentive, they would enable the next digital frontier, he said.
He maintained that “we as a business will also make the effort to ensure we provide the enabled environment while the government is making policies that will ignite the sector”.
The COO of MDXi said a robust partnership between the Agency and IT private firms would go a long way in encouraging people to make use of more locally sourced services.
