By 
The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has proposed partnership with Republic of Namibia in the areas of Innovations and Entrepreneurship through the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTA).
AfCTA offers African countries a strong window to promote “Made in Africa” products and services as well as explore and exploit opportunities provided by emerging technologies to build an enviable pan- African market benchmarked on global standard.
According to the Director General of NITDA, Mallam Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, as Nigeria is moving fast towards diversifying its economy leveraging technology, it has become imperative to foster partnerships that bring win-win results to all parties in the provisioning of services and products made within the continent.
While welcoming the High Commissioner of Namibia to Nigeria and Permanent Representative to ECOWAS, His Excellency, Mr. Humphrey D Geiseh to the NITDA’s corporate headquarters, Abuja during a recent courtesy visit, Abdullahi noted the need for a partnership agreement to find a viable route for digital trade resolution within the framework of AfCTA.
Africa must leverage 4thIR – Abdullahi
Africa as a continent lost out during the first, second and third industrial revolutions due to the huge capital investments but with the fourth industrial revolution (4thIR) offers endless opportunities that requires ability to harness the abundant, vibrant talents of young Africans that are already technology inclined.
Abdullahi expressed gladness at the High Commissioner’s enthusiasm in seeking collaborations with NITDA to build a stronger relationship for the development of technological products between the two countries.
He said the agency has been implementing the National IT Policy until 2019 when the ministry’s mandate was expanded to cover digital economy. He asserted that this was because communication was not an end but a means to an end.
He said it was important to calibrate activities and align them with the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) which necessitated the agency to come up with a new Strategic Road Map and Action Plan.
The NITDA’s boss stated that ‘emerging technologies’ which constitute part of strategic pillar in the road map could be used to create technological values in Africa.
“These emerging technologies come with promises and perils and the agency’s focus is to avoid the perils and achieve the promises”, said Abdullahi.
Namibia recognises youths as future
His Excellency, Mr. Geiseh, remarked said that Namibia and Nigeria are both African countries with long standing relationship that precedes Namibia’s independence.
Namibia has a population of about 2.4 million and almost one-third of her population are internet users according to statistics as of 2018.
The ambassador said his country is committed to providing necessary opportunities for the youth to be exposed to technologies that will dominate their lives in the near future.
His words: “In Namibia, we recognise the role of the youths in the development of the country in the future prosperity of the nation which has prompted our visit today to basically know how your agency has advanced in the areas of ICT so we can identify common challenges and proffer solutions in areas where both countries can work together”.
According to Mallam Abdullahi, the NITDA established the National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics specifically for researching best ways to apply emerging technologies in the health and agricultural sectors among others.
RELATED
Technology Drives An Inclusive Trading Market
Beyond Boundaries: The Impact Of Free Trade And Technology On Africa’s Accelerating Economic Development
“I will invite you to visit our Centre as well and see how you can borrow some of the ideas and domesticate it in Namibia”, Abdullahi said adding that “promoting indigenous and local content, which is another strategic pillar of the agency is aimed at supporting local start-ups and encouraging made in Africa products.”
He said African countries should share experiences and ideas in order to build world class product as it is easier to procure products from neighbouring countries rather than other continents.
“Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in the country provide about 95% of the workforce and produce more than 50% of the Nation’s GDP. It is therefore necessary to ignite processes in the digital ecosystem with the use of technology.” Innovations don’t happen in isolation, you need to connect with what others are doing in other parts of the world and apply them domestically to create wealth for the Nation and the continent at large”, Abdullahi also noted.
While commending the ambassador for seeking ways to work with NITDA, Abdullahi listed the National Adopted Village for Smart Agriculture, (NAVSA) as one of the initiatives of the agency that can help Namibia boost her productivity in agriculture.
“This is an area we can explore partnership where we can get some startups who can develop solutions for you and on our part, also learn how you manage your agricultural business.”
Digital Nigeria International Conference
The NITDA boss also wants the Namibian government to participate in the e-Nigeria programme of NITDA.
His words: “NITDA has a yearly flagship programme called ‘e-Nigeria’, an international conference and exhibition programme where local start-ups are invited to showcase their products, and this year’s programme would be tagged ‘Digital Nigeria’ because of the evolution from electronic to digital system.”
“We are having a one-week Digital Nigeria International Conference and we are extending the invitation to you. You can bring people from Namibia to the conference to have a glimpse of our ecosystem where you will meet some of our startups, share ideas, challenges and see how we can use technology to grow our economy as a continent.”
