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Productive public, private partnership is key to building a better Nigeria, the Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA),Mallam Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi has said while receiving donation of IT gadgets from the founder and CEO of Hotspot Network Limited, Mr. Morenikeji Aniye at the NITDA’s head office in Abuja.
Hotspot Network, an engineering company with focus in wireless communications and broadcast network infrastructure, made the donation of 50 handheld devices to NITDA to support the agency’s National Adopted Village for Smart Agriculture (NAVSA) scheme.
NAVSA is one of NITDA’s digital schemes designed to help farmers and other agricultural ecosystem players to navigate their journey across the agriculture value chain. This journey cuts across farm production to management, harvesting, food processing, storage, marketing and consumption.
Abdullahi while thanking the Hotspot team said the company was helping to change the narrative of government, private sector partnership as the norm is to see private companies requesting for assistance from government.
“Private organizations are of the impression that anything given to government does not get down to the real people as it is believed that the top executives take all.
“Your coming to donate and also partner with the Agency shows that our initiative is getting a buy-in of the people and this gives hope,” he said.
Speaking earlier, Aniye said he has been watching the agency keenly from afar and observed the giant strides achieved within a short time, appreciating the efforts so far in digital inclusion.
He said his company was identifying with the NAVSA programme through the donation it has a similar initiative to the NAVSA tagged: “Digital Farmers Club”.
The Digital Farmers Club allows the deployment of voice and data to rural areas, said Aniye adding that the programme energizes the rural community agriculturally.
He believes partnership with NITDA on the NAVSA scheme will further assist young farmers and women in rural areas by empowering them digitally.
