NITDA, NSIA
NITDA, NSIA in Partnership to Empower Start-Ups on Job
Creation
The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA)
is to partner with the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority
(NSIA) towards investing in start-ups so as to create more jobs and
wealth in Nigeria.
The outcome of a recent meeting by the two agencies, they agreed
that the collaboration could help to financially kit the startup
ecosystem and also help in the provision of required infrastructure
to boost the digital economy policy of the Nigerian government.
While leading some of his management team on a visit to the
NSIA, the Director-General of NITDA, Mallam Kashifu Inuwa
Abdullahi, stated that ICT virtually drives the global economy and
many countries are leapfrogging their economies by leveraging ICT
resources.
Nigeria needs massive investment that will bring IT
infrastructural development to the country and it was important to
stimulate the IT industry through content localization, rather than
importation from other countries especially now that a large
segment of Nigeria’s population consist of young and brilliant
innovators. The NITDA’s boss added..
“At NITDA, we have initiated a number of projects during
lockdown that will go a long way in fighting the pandemic. The
COVID-19 Innovation Challenge is one of them. Young innovators
converged and came up with technology solutions to cushion the
effect of the COVID-19,” said Abdullahi.
“Furthermore, our National Adopted Village for Smart Agriculture
(NAVSA), an initiative to digitise our farming processes is
yielding to a positive result. We have trained and equipped over
140 Nigerians who are already benefiting from the scheme. We are
currently working to escalate it to every part of the country. If
we work collectively, we can achieve a lot,” he added.
He noted that his team chose to visit the NSIA for partnership
particularly in the areas of investment on local content
development.
The Managing Director of NSIA, Mr. Uche Orji, expressed the
agency’s willingness to work with the NITDA.
Describing the visit as historical, he said the two agencies
have a mandate to jointly boost development in the country,
especially now that ICT is contributing huge figures to Nigeria’s
Growth Domestic Product (GDP).
His words: “Our mission is to play a leading role in driving
sustained economic development for the benefit of all Nigerians. We
want to create economic stability in the country and IT is a great
way to achieve that.”