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President Muhammadu Buhari is expected to highlight emerging digital opportunities in Nigeria as he declares open eNigeria 2018 Conference today in Abuja.
eNigeria is the flagship tech-event of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA). The theme for the three day stakeholders’ meet is: “Promoting a Digital Economy in an era of Emerging Technologies through Effective Regulations.” The 2018 theme is reflecting the complex mix of digital opportunities and challenges driven by the increasing influence of emerging technologies on the socio-economic aspect of the Nigerian society.
Former anti-corruption czar and pioneer Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ahmed Ribadu will deliver the keynote address of this year’s eNigeria,
The eNigeria 2018 includes conference, exhibitions and awards. The opening ceremony is 11am inside the International Conference Centre.The Director General of National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Dr Isa Pantami has said that over N13 billion has been save as a result of adherence to the NITDA regulations on ICT procurement and other things associated with ICT by Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
NITDA saves Nigeria N13b through IT clearance regulation in two years, says NITDA boss at pre-eNigeria media parley
Meanwhile, the NITDA has declared that it was able to save N13 billion for the Nigerian government within two years through its IT clearance regulation. In a pre-eNigeria interaction with journalists, the Director General, Dr Isa Ibrahim Pantami the agency was able to achieve this through insistence on compliance to IT procurement by government’s MDAs.
His words: “Over 13 billion naira has been saved through compliance with this process, surveillance has captured 100+ ICT projects, a total of 410 MDA’s and 105 higher educational institution have been engaged in order to ensure compliance, Framework and Guidelines for IT Projects Clearance has been developed, enforcement of executive order 001: (MDAs website assessment conducted and report produced for improvement).”
As part of its mandate, he said NITDA was creating eight world class IT Hubs in the six geo-political zones within the larger framework of creating capacity and soft skill sets in young Nigerians.
Pantami, who recently led the NITDA to receive a global award at the just ended GITEX in Dubai, said immediately he assumed office, he led a team to develop a 2017-2020 Strategic Roadmap for the agency.
According to him, because of the wide scope of NITDA’s mandate, the Action Plan relies extensively on the NITDA Act, the National IT Policy, the Nigerian Strategic ICT4D Plan and e-Nigeria communiqués (2015 and 2016).
“Regulation is a key tool for achieving the social, economic and environmental policy objectives of government. The National Information Technology Development Agency is charged with the mandate to develop and regulate Information Technology for sustainable national development pursuant to Section 6 of the NITDA Act,” said Pantami.
He highlighted the achievements of the regulation to include “all the MDAs have been provided with a copy of the template and it has also been made available online. We have developed the procedure for an objective analysis of all the IT projects submitted for clearance.”
