TECHDIGEST — The Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa CCIE, has reaffirmed Nigeria’s commitment to Digital Literacy which he says will in the long run bridge the global talent gap in the information Communications Technology (ICT) sector and place the country among technology driven Nations

Inuwa said this as a panelist at the just concluded Nigeria-Spanish Business and Trade Forum, in Madrid, Spain.

“Nigeria has talented youths and is blessed with one of the youngest populations in the world; By 2050 we will be the third most populous nations in the world; So, we are concerned about Digital Literacy because the world is moving towards digital and knowledge-based economy and there is a global talent gap in ICT”

The NITDA Boss who noted that ICT is the third largest sectors in Nigeria told the forum that so far, the Implementation of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy NDEPS for a Digital Nigeria which was unveiled and lunched by President Muhammadu Buhari on November 28, 2019, has been phenomenally successful with monumental impact on the Nation’s economy.

“The policy launch placed Nigeria on the Global Digital Economy Map and opened the doors for investors to come and invest in key sectors of the economy. Indeed, in the history of Nigeria, we have never had an administration which is ICT friendly like the Buhari administration”.

The Director-General also went further to explain the strategic pillars under the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) which he said three among the pillars are the key focus of NITDA:

“Building Infrastructure, Talents (digital skills and literacy), and Suitable Environment for investments to thrive remain parts of NITDA’s targets”.

Meanwhile, the DG informed the gathering that efforts to bring the Nigeria Startup Bill to a logical conclusion are currently being intensified.

He expressed optimism that upon getting the legal backing, the Bill will incentivise Nigerians and create a new market in order to encourage more investments and boost the sector’s contribution to the Nation’s Gross Domestic Products (GDP).

While commending the Federal Government for the change in the Ministry’s mandate and nomenclature from Communications to the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy in Oct, 2019, Inuwa stressed that although Telecommunications is the biggest sectors in Africa, Nigeria is the leading market.

He encouraged investors to take advantage of the country’s huge population/demography, resourceful young minds as well as it’s soaring digital economy and invest without fears.

“Africa is a virgin land, we don’t have legacy infrastructure; So, you can easily invest and grow in many sectors”, the DG stressed.

Inuwa was hopeful that achieving the ambiguous target of a 95% digital literacy by 2030 would go a long way in creating new markets for not just Nigerians but investors, both at home and abroad.

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TECHDIGEST –  National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and MassChallenge have announced the three IT Startups as winners of a competition, of the Bridge to MassChallenge, B2MC-Nigeria 2021-22 Programme.

The winners were selected from 30 startups shortlisted in the competition held in December 2021, from the B2MC, Nigeria.

Announcing the winners, Hajia Hadiza Umar, Director, Public Affairs of NITDA said, the winners were Negs Empire, Dozzy Agricultural Enterprise and Maximus Recycling Solutions.

Techdigest gathered that MassChallenge, is a global network for innovators who are working to solve massive challenges to connects startups, experts, corporations and communities to grow and transform businesses and economies.

According to Hadiza, NITDA and Mass challenge, in the last five months, have worked to catalyze entrepreneurial activities and execute innovative ideas in Nigeria.

‘’The engagement is to strengthen the Nigerian innovation ecosystem by providing exposure and access to global business networks, funding opportunities, and extensive knowledge.

‘’It is to give Nigerian founders equal opportunities for their startup ventures to compete globally,’’ she said.

Hadiza said that most of the stakeholders in the network were government agencies, universities, venture capitalists, angel investors, media, among others
She said Negs Empire, an agritech venture, was selected for using the bee-keeping method to improve food security.

The director also said that Dozzy, an agritech venture, focused on closing the market gap between the fish consumed and fish produced in the fish value chain, through sustainable fish seed productivity and processing.
She said Maximus Recycling Solutions, an envitech venture, helped many to gain financial value for their waste.

BY kabir Abdulsalam

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Metaverse PR,  a specialized public relations firm has  launched it first ever virtual Public Relation agency to assist Web3 startups and existing enterprises with the problem of effectively communicating in a new, constantly changing virtual reality.

The PR firm, based New York City, United States of America, USA launched this  through  its sister company, double e PR, a communications firm with vast experience representing technology-driven retail, creative, and commerce businesses.

Metaverse PR‘s service will enhanced by double e PR’s history in technology communications, particularly in helping companies communicate their stories about digital transformation.

According to a statement obtain from its official website https://metaversepr.com/., said “the programs encompassing a range of strategic communications activities including speaking engagements and vertical, category-specific media relations, product publicity, byline writing and thought leadership”.

The president/founder of Metaverse PR, Eric Eddy said: “We’re thrilled to offer the constellation of Metaverse companies our expertise in delivering high profile exposure in the press and on the stage. Our background in PR for this brave new virtual world originated with our sister company, whose consulting clients bridge brands into Web3.

“Those clients relied on double e pr’s ability to conceptualize and develop thought leadership campaigns on everything from token gated commerce and DAOs to NFTs and Web3 solutions. We are bringing our clients sophisticated Metaverse business to business communications experience to drive brand buzz.

“Businesses such as crypto firms, NFT collectives, computing power and DAOs, interoperability and standards companies, virtual platform companies, token gated commerce, and web gaming companies, VR/XR/AR players, and hardware technology manufacturers are among the industries that the new agency supports in building the Metaverse.

By Kabir Abdulsalam

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The New York Times reports journalists, academics and researchers who are part of the Facebook Open Research and Transparency Project will be able to see targeted advertising data.

“The information includes which interest categories — such as ‘people who like dogs’ or ‘people who enjoy the outdoors’ — were chosen to aim an ad at someone,” the Times reports.

The new data that is being added to the Facebook Open Research Transparency project and the Ad Library is a way to share information on political ad targeting while trying to keep data on its users private, the company said.

“By making advertiser targeting criteria available for analysis and reporting on ads run about social issues, elections and politics, we hope to help people better understand the practices used to reach potential voters on our technologies,” the company said in a statement.

What it means: Meta’s history is fraught with accusations of misuse of personal data and private information, in addition to claims that nefarious groups have been able to use the platform for illicit purposes. While Meta’s statement doesn’t address these claims, its aim of helping people “better understand” its practices sounds positive. However, it will take years of sustained action to change the company’s reputation around data use and transparency.

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TECHDIGEST – MTN Nigeria has partnered with Huawei Technologies to launch a premium Wi-Fi service in Nigeria to ensure that businesses have the best in-home wireless Internet experience possible.

The Premium Wi-Fi that will allow businesses in Nigeria to enjoy high-speed Internet connectivity and better coverage that connects well-optimized wireless devices in the market.

READ ALSO: Airtel Africa Launches Mobile Banking In Nigeria

According to MTN Nigeria’s Chief Technical Officer, Mohammed Rufai, the Premium Wi-Fi deployment is geared around delivering a superior user experience with high technology.

“With the variety of smart home devices multiplying by the day and endless new types of services being created to land on them, there needs to be, better home network quality. Given that most of the apps will be youth-oriented video clips and online games, that calls for a lot of management.” he said.

Also, the move is in a bid to continuously fine-tune end-users experience on the network.

The Premium Wi-Fi can playback the historical home wireless networks’ performance in the last seven days. It demarcates faults based on speed tests by segment and diagnoses major issues in just one click, in order to rectify problems in the cloud.

A self-trouble shooting function on a mobile app provided by MTN Nigeria enables home broadband users to solve some network problems by themselves, allowing them to manage all broadband performance much easier.

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TECHDIGEST – Broadband penetration in Nigeria picked up again in March. According to industry statistics published by the Nigerian Communications Commission, the broadband penetration rose to 42.27 per cent as against 40.91 per cent recorded in February.
The broadband penetration had slowed in the last quarter of 2021, which the industry watchers attributed to many factors including the NIN-SIM card linkage policy of the Federal Government of Nigeria and the rising inflation that has impacted household income.

Meanwhile, the broadband subscriptions in Nigeria as at March 2022 stood at 80,678,301 as against 78,082,273 recorded in the previous month. By implication, Nigeria added 2,596,028 broadband subscriptions in March this year.

TechEconomy.ng had reported that the country (Nigeria) added over four million Active telephony subscriptions in the first quarter 2022.

NCC’s records indicate that telephony subscriptions increased from 195,463,898 in December 2021 to 199,558,540 in March 2022.

In terms of market shares, MTN retains the top spot as a telecom service provider in Nigeria controlling 37.89% GSM market share with 74,933,684 subscribers.

Airtel retains second spot with 55,004,561 subscribers representing 27.81%, followed by Globacom (third), with 54,987,328 (27.80%) and 9mobile (fourth) with 12,842,909 subscribers, representing 6.49% market share.

Further analyses show that Globacom is the highest gainer with the addition of 894,565 followed by Airtel 366,422 and MTN with 243,879, while 9mobile lost 71,992 subscribers in the month

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In felicitation of the National Productivity Order of Merit Award conferred by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria General Muhammadu Buhari GCFR on the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) has congratulated the Agency for its outstanding performance so far and deliberated on key areas of collaboration.
The Director General of NITDA Kashifu Inuwa, CCIE.

, while receiving delegates from the society led by its National President, Professor Adesina Sodiya at the Agency’s Headquarters in Abuja said that the Agency is willing to collaborate more with the society.

Asserting the unwavering commitment of NITDA to collaborate in the implementation of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) through the Agency’s Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan (SRAP 2021-2024), the DG said “we have an ambitious target of making Nigeria a start-up nation and to train 1 million programmers between this year and next year and to achieve 95 percent digital literacy in Nigeria by the year 2030.
Inuwa said, “we believe we cannot succeed in isolation that is why we collaborate with organizations like yours”.

The DG informed that he had earlier received delegates from the FCT chapter of the society who are ready to collaborate with NITDA in the areas of participating in NITDA Policy Framework Development, providing inputs in the NITDA Legal framework, and participating in other areas that may be required from time to time.
He applauded the initiatives brought to the fore by the Society and encouraged them to key into the activities of the Agency that are similar to its initiatives, while assuring them of the Agency’s willingness to collaborate and render support where necessary.

These initiatives are Techies Hangout Initiative (THI), an event (online, physical, TV, Radio) series where Information Technology (IT) experts discuss trending and prospective IT business and youth developments for the national economy, bringing to the table, research and actionable efforts being put together in resolving the issues.

It will also feature startup mentoring and collaborative development through sponsorship sourcing; the Computer-4-Schools Initiative (C4SI), an initiative aimed at sourcing and distributing computers and other IT tools to public secondary schools in the FCT and its environs to build their skills in technology in the early stages; Directors and Head ICT (D/HICT) Conference, a two-day conference to engage Head of MDAs, Directors of ICT Departments/Units and private sector to discuss related issues around ICT development in public and private spheres.
Inuwa stated that the rulemaking process regulation of NITDA allows organizations to participate in the development and also come up with regulations, standards, guidelines, and frameworks for consideration by the Agency.

The NCS President appreciated the Agency for its support for the society and presented a “Proud Ambassador” Award to the DG for his outstanding leadership.
“We are here as a society to continue to support what you are is doing in order to promote and develop IT in Nigeria. To congratulate the DG on the National Productivity Award bestowed on the Agency. To invite the DG to the NCS building and to inspect what NITDA has been supporting. To invite DG to their conference.”

“We will improve on our synergy with you so that we can do more together,” he said.

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TECHDIGEST – Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has been described as critical role in the Agricultural sector that can guarantee cash flow and a major contributor to the nations’ Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The Director General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa CCIE, said this when he received the Co-Founder of Corporate Farmers International (CFI), Mr Akinwale Alabi, and his team to the Agency’s Corporate Headquarters in Abuja to seek possible areas of collaboration in smart agriculture.

Inuwa noted that disruptive innovation using emerging technologies will create new markets and easy access to new products and services.

“There is a need to build these pieces of equipment locally by challenging our startups and tech gurus to come up with solutions to such problems. “The Agency has a Fab-Lab to check the product initiated through a proof-of-concept test. It then proceeds to the fabrication of the product to create a prototype for testing and then later mass production,” the DG added.

Inuwa further asserted that there is a need to create a value chain, adding that “creating platform to bring the farmers, up takers, and financial institutions together to ease the purchase of goods and services without leaving your destination. Instead, all you need is to place a request on the platform, requesting the logistics company to pick up and deliver to the point of initiation.”

“NITDA launched National Adopted Village for Smart Agriculture (NAVSA) programme to boost the capacity of young Nigerian farmers in the digital world market. NAVSA seeks to digitally transform the agricultural economy of farmers and their business models across all value chains to increase productivity.

The NAVSA pilot program was launched at the Federal University of Agriculture Abeokuta, (FUNAAB) Ogun State, with 100 (One Hundred) young farmers. And later at the Federal University of Duste (FUD), Jigawa State, respectively, to create jobs directly/ indirectly in the country.

Inuwa stressed that the NITDA Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan (SRAP) 2021 -2024 is a document crafted by the Agency that contains the vision of developing Nigeria into a sustainable digital economy that is prosperous and driven by technology.

SRAP has been tailored to proactively facilitate the country’s transformation into a sustainable Digital Economy but requires an elaborate stakeholder collaboration in implementing the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) for a Digital Nigeria.

He said, NITDA SRAP has seven (7) pillars namely: Developmental Regulation; Digital Literacy d Skills, Digital Transformation, Digital Innovation d Entrepreneurship, Cybersecurity, Emerging Technologies and Promotion Indigenous Content Development.

According to the DG, the pillars will foster dynamic regulatory instruments that will unlock opportunities across different sectors of the economy, enable the development of digital skills of Nigerians across different works of life, provide a robust digital platform to drive digitalization processes in the digital economy and enable innovation-driven small and medium enterprises to thrive. We expect that the outcome of this pillar will create opportunities for job creation

He cited that Cybersecurity will strengthen cyberspace and reduce vulnerabilities exploitable by threat actors to create a vibrant digital economy and protect the digital asset and allow citizens to have confidence in the digital economy.

He added that Emerging Technologies will facilitate the adoption and adaptation of emerging technologies in Nigeria and map the development of the digital economy with sustainable development goals in providing quality education, poverty eradication, good health and well-being, and reducing inequalities.

Lastly, the DG said, Promotion of Indigenous Content will create an enabling environment for promoting and adopting indigenous innovation for a digital economy, develop indigenous products and services, increase patronage, and enable iterative problem-solving by indigenous digital technology.

In his earlier remarks, the Co-Founder of Corporate Farmers International, Mr Akinwale Alabi, said the company is known for innovation around the agricultural ecosystem, building technologies, and rendering solutions for the system at large to boost production of agricultural produce.

“Our major focus is to building young entrepreneurs and youth talents that will shape the narrative of Agriculture. And build a new system that will take Nigeria’s agricultural system to the next level”, Alabi said.

“I want to commend the DG of NITDA for the giant strides, intervention, programs, and the launch of the Digital Agricultural strategy that concentrates on the Agricultural sector. Taking advantage and being part of the enterprise document will change people’s perception of farming in the country.”

Alabi further revealed that it developed a system that speaks about Agricultural digital e-learning for young entrepreneurs to plugin quickly and learns easily across the agricultural value chain. This was done in 2022 when Covid was at its peak. And this has helped many farmers gain knowledge about agricultural activities, thereby changing their perception of farming.

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The National Information Technology Development Agency’s Computer Emergency Readiness and Response Team (NITDA-CERRT) has urged all government Ministries, Departments, and Agencies to take extra security precautions by hardening their cyber defences and performing due diligence in identifying indicators of malicious activity that could affect their networks, assets, and critical national infrastructure.

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, cyber attacks on businesses and government organizations have grown, with the possibility of spillover cyber attacks against non-primary targets becoming far more frequent.

In a statement made available to newsmen, said: “There is a greater danger for countries doing business in or with these countries’ governments, as well as businesses or countries that apply sanctions or are believed to intervene.”

Therefore, Ministries Departments Agencies are advised to use the following steps to prevent such attacks.

“Carry out checks for possible vulnerabilities on their systems and implement appropriate remediations.
Always ensure software’s are updated.Carry out regular patches on all systems.

“Secure and monitor remote desktop protocol and other risky services.
Carry out awareness on cyber security best practices to sensitized employees and users of services. It said.

Organizations are however, invited to sign up for NITDA’s free web protection service, which will provide MDAs’ administrators with detailed information about the vulnerability of their web services.

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Two Nigerian technology start-ups, Paddy Cover and Pricepally.com, have emerged as winners of the Dubai World Trade Centre’s $200,000 Lagos talent show.

At the event, TruQ emerged as the EIC and Lagos State winner. The two winners are set to head on all-expense-paid trip to Dubai to pitch their idea to investors and technology ecosystem players at the GITEX 2022 exhibition for a chance to win $200,000.

In a statement, organisers of the event said the Gulf Information Technology Exhibition is an annual consumer computer and electronics trade show exhibition and conference that takes place in Dubai at the Dubai World Trade Centre.

Speaking at the event, the Director-General of the Nigeria Information Technology Development Agency, Kashifu Abdullah, who was represented by Head of Corporate Planning and Strategy, Dr Aristotle Onumo, said, “As regards this particular program, the North Star is trying to take advantage of the program to expose our start-ups, while NITDA is partnering with GITEX.

“What is happening now will happen in Dubai, but the Dubai World Trade Centre and the Dubai Government are represented here today.

“They have come to Nigeria to be able to harness the innovative skills already within Nigeria to start early marketing of the two to be selected and connecting them with various investors across the globe so that even before they get to GITEX proper, they would have had a kind of visibility.”

The Special Adviser to Lagos State Governor on Innovation and Technology, Tumbosun Alake, added, “The initiative is to give opportunities to our ecosystem start-ups with better access to local and foreign markets.

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