Kashifu Inuwa: Getting Tinubu’s Stamp for Unrivalled Feats at NITDA
By Labaran Saleh
On Thursday, October 12, 2023, the cheery news broke that Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi had been reappointed by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA).
Inuwa, who became the NITDA helmsman in August of 2019 under the previous administration, retains his position in what can be regarded as a welcome development and an affirmation of the exceptional achievements of the iconic IT innovation expert.
It is worth recalling that the catastrophic COVID-19 outbreak struck the nation just a few months following Inuwa’s first appointment.
But the (then) new Chief Executive Officer of NITDA saw the COVID-19 crisis as a daunting challenge that requires an innovative and strategic approach for the country to overcome.
Working in collaboration with the supervising Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy now known as the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy (FMCIDE), NITDA under Inuwa rose to the challenge.
Creditably, NITDA, in partnership with the Ministry, deployed several digital technologies to ensure that the Federal Government could continue with the business of governance and administration.
Following the Ministry’s launch of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) in 2019, Inuwa and his team worked assiduously to develop the Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan (SRAP 2021 – 2024), which would assist the NDEPS in achieving its goals and objectives of accelerating the growth of Nigeria’s digital economy.
Programmes and initiatives that support digital inclusion, talent development, entrepreneurial growth, job creation, and enhanced access to vital IT infrastructure nationwide were implemented under the guidance of the SRAP.
So far, the SRAP has successfully recorded several milestones and achievements in all its focus areas amounting to the implementation of 64% of its initiatives.
NITDA’s strategic initiatives have been crucial in increasing the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector’s contribution to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which was 18.44 per cent in the second quarter of 2022.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the sector’s contribution grew to 19.54 per cent in the second quarter of 2023. The NBS also reported that the ICT sector grew by an unprecedented 8.6 per cent year-on-year in the second quarter of 2023 over that of 2022. NITDA is playing crucial roles in the successful growth of the country’s ICT sector.
Worthy of note, under Inuwa’s stewardship, international investors have also increased their interest in Nigerian digital startup ecosystem. The country attracted over 4 billion USD in investment into the ICT ecosystem between 2019–2022.
In the past four years under Inuwa’s leadership, the IT Project Clearance Initiative has saved over ₦311 billion for the Federal Government by ensuring that government IT projects are appropriately priced and bogus equipment is not acquired by various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs). This initiative has vetted and cleared 988 unique IT projects from over 393 MDAs.
While taking the Agency’s role as an industry catalyst into account, Inuwa also focused on enabling the private sector to create a vibrant, innovative digital ecosystem in the country. During his first tenure, the re-appointed Director General upped the ante by issuing a considerable number of frameworks and guidelines aimed at promoting Nigeria’s IT industry and its enterprises.
In 2021, NITDA launched the National Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) operations – another important initiative for the government and industry to strengthen national cybersecurity.
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NITDA’s unprecedented support for digital startups can be highlighted by the establishment of the Office for Nigerian Digital Innovation (ONDI) and the National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and robotic (NCAIR).
Through these Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs), the Agency has facilitated the provision of seed funding for startups through support programmes and initiatives such as GITEX Global, LEAP, and Intra-African Trade Fair to the tune of US$373,000 and ₦382 million.
Furthermore, the Agency facilitated the attendance of 40 Nigerian startups at several local digital and ICT events and supported 49 startups for innovation acceleration through the Bridge to MassChallenge (B2MC) Nigeria programme, ideaHatch (iHatch) incubation programme, and Next Innovation with Japan (NINJA) programme, to mention but a few.
The extensive efforts and expenditure on ICT and Digital training included training of 20 startups through the North-East Startup Training (NEST) Programme and 74 startups through the Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Support (TIES) Scheme.
Inuwa has also shown a lot of commitment to training the country’s youth in IT/Digital skills at all levels. In the last four years, various multi-sectoral capacity-building programmes were launched to promote digital literacy and skills.
So far, over 3 million Nigerians have been trained under these programmes. Under Inuwa’s leadership, NITDA has partnered with the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND), state and local governments, and the Federal Capital Territory to train young Nigerians in ICT and relevant digital skills for several years.
In 2022, 300 secondary school students in the FCT were trained by NITDA in Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship, a venture undertaken in collaboration with the Abuja Enterprise Agency (AEA).
Additionally, NITDA also collaborated with the World Bank (for women-focused tech skills training); Nigerian Export Promotion Council (for non-oil focused Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises training); Japan International Cooperation Agency (for startup incubation); Domineum Blockchain Solutions (for blockchain technology training for youths); the United States Consulate General (for collaboration on technical advancement and innovation in Africa); and the Clayton Christensen Institute (for framework development on sustainable initiatives).
Inuwa has brought his rich professional experience to bear on his job as Director General of NITDA. Under his watch, the unwavering support for young innovators through grants and scholarships has occasioned the growth in leap and bounds of the Nigerian information technology and digital ecosystem.
The NITDA Director General also coordinated the reforms to reposition the Agency to “meet the challenges of the industry into the future.” Thus, he initiated a reform programme for NITDA in 2021, which has been successfully implemented.
Within the same period, a new NITDA brand identity was introduced, along with the launch of the iServe charter, committing the Agency and its staff to better customer service delivery.
Recently, he also initiated the process of earning another ISO27001:13 Certification of NITDA’s processes after the milestone of being the first Federal Public Institution to achieve the milestone as far back as 2019. NITDA remains one of the few government agencies to have earned the certification.
Reacting to Inuwa’s re-appointment as the Director General of NITDA, Sola Bickersteth, an IT expert and Executive Director, Financial Inclusion Centre, Abuja, said, “NITDA has successfully standardized the procurement of ICT solutions by government and the creation of the Nigeria Data Protection Commission is one of the key achievements of Kashifu Abdullahi.”
Bickersteth also commends Abdullahi’s tremendous support for young innovators in the country’s ICT and Digital industry.
With a relentless innovator such as Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi reappointed by the Tinubu administration as NITDA’s helmsman, Nigeria should look forward to growing a vibrant IT industry.
Labaran Saleh
Kofar Famfo Kano
