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Nigerians have been encouraged to sharpen their skills and be digitally creative so as to proffer indigenous solutions to the country’s challenges.
The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof Isa Ali Pantami, made this charge at the launching of Rated-Artisan Services Limited; a wholly-owned Nigerian software solutions provider.
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While stressing that the initiative aligns with the federal government’s target of achieving 95% digital literacy by 2030, he applauded the efforts of the startup digital company for their products targeting to address local challenges via global approach in areas that include proprietary intelligent enterprise and e-Commerce applications.
“Numerous activities being carried out in this company are no doubt gaining traction, and this contributes in shaping our thinking towards not only maximizing our socio-economic opportunities as a people but also creating a platform for advancing the tech-driven entrepreneurship towards national development,’ the minister said. He was represented by Head, Corporate Liaison and Advocacy Unit, National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Babangida Abdullahi Gilo,
Pantami, who described the innovative solutions as timely, tasked more Nigerians to develop “crazy ideas” that will fast track the achievement of a Digital Nigeria.
“Considering the increasing need for stakeholders within the ecosystem to discuss ways to better harness the vast opportunities offered by ICT, our current realities point to the fact that the future of the world economy is digital, and IT in particular has become one of the most talked-about areas by most of the people in our society today.
“IT is a wide-ranging tool that is already transforming every walk of life. We must therefore ensure that we get the most out of IT while still protecting important human values.”
The Director-General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, reaffirmed that the agency remains committed to supporting the development of the indigenous solutions that will address the nation’s prevailing challenges.
“It is often said that it is where there are challenges that you have opportunities, and it is where there are opportunities that wealth is created. Today we are here to celebrate Rated Artisan for identifying a challenge and exploring the opportunities presented by the challenge to create wealth for Nigerians,” said the NITDA’s boss who was represented at the event by the Acting Coordinator of the Office for Nigerian Digital Innovation, Yakubu Musa.
“There is a need to have specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, time-bound and objectives and an implementation structure that will ensure the successful implementation of these programs and initiatives,” he added.
Earlier, the Managing Director, Rated Artisan Services limited, Dr. Inya-Agha Gabriel, while presenting the Al-Driven Mobile Applications, said the innovative solutions including RatedArtisan, RatedAcademy, Banga and Ecoforce are structured for businesses to meet the growing demands in today’s digitally advanced business environment.
