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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.
Tthe 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.”
