By Sarauniya Usman, Abuja
The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) is to partner with the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) towards investing in Start-ups to create more jobs and wealth in Nigeria.
This was hinted when the Director-General of NITDA, Mallam Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, when he and the management team paid a courtesy visit to the NSIA management.
” The two Federal agencies discussed areas of collaboration that will culminate in the provision of digital infrastructure to boost digital economy policy of the Federal Government”.
During the visit, Abdullahi stated that Information and Communications Technology has already taken over world’s economies; hence there is need for massive investment that will bring IT infrastructural development to the country.
The NITDA boss mentioned the importance of stimulating the IT industry through content localisation, rather than importation from other countries especially that the large population of Nigeria consist young and brilliant innovators.
The DG noted that his team chose to visit NSIA for partnership particularly in the areas of investment on local content development.
“At NITDA, we have initiated number projects during lockdown that will go along the pandemic; COVID19 Innovation Challenge is one of them. Young innovators were converged and come up with technology solution that cushioned the effect of the COVID19″.
“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 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 said.
Responding, the Managing Director of NSIA, Mr Uche Orji, thanked the DG of NITDA for finding time to visit him particularly to discus areas of partnership and collaboration.
He described the visit as historical, noting that the two agencies will work hand in hand towards developing economic activities in the country, especially now that ICT is contributing huge figures to Nigeria’s Growth Domestic Product (GDP)
“Our mission is to play a leading role in driving sustained economic development for the benefit of all Nigerians. We want create economic stability in the country and IT is a great way to achieve that,” he said.
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