Nigeria: Govt Plans New ICT Roadmap to Boost Digital Economy

The federal government is set to unveil a new roadmap for the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector to drive Nigeria’s digital economy and boost productivity.

Director-general of Nigeria Information Technology Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Abdullahi disclosed this during events to mark NITDA’s 20 years’ anniversary held in Abuja yesterday.

He said NITDA had substantially actualised the National IT Policy’s goal to digitise Nigeria and would henceforth take advantage of IT as a source of inspiration and strategic national economic, security and social platform

Abdullahi while enumerating NITDA’s unprecedented contributions to the economy, said the agency had played critical roles in national development by providing the legal framework for information technology development, pioneering IT developmental projects, facilitating access to information technology goods and services, catalysing job creation and ensuring national security

“There is no doubt that there are a lot of achievements recorded by the Agency since its establishment. These achievements include huge ICT contribution to GDP from less than 0.5% in 2001 to more than 14% in 2020, catalysing job creation and igniting innovative activities in the tech ecosystem. Likewise, we have achieved a lot in digital inclusion and literacy.

“As a result, now we are witnessing the emergence of new economic sectors like Fintech, eCommerce, Venture Capital investment, Business Process Outsourcing, Data Protection Compliance Organisations, and IT equipment manufacturing, and robust software industry,”he said.

“With this important milestone in carrying out our mandates, we think our 20th-anniversary is worth celebrating. Since its establishment, NITDA has evolved in many aspects and responded to its mandates’ dynamics.

Minister of communications and digital economy Isa Pantami commended the agency for the actualization of the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation which, he said, was unprecedented.

Written By: Innocent Odoh

Source: allAfrica

Link:https://allafrica.com/stories/202104200366.html