NITDA for a Collective Execution of the Nigeria Startup Act By Inyene Ibanga

NITDA for a Collective Execution of the Nigeria Startup Act

By Inyene Ibanga

Former President Muhammadu Buhari signed the Nigeria Startup Act (NSA) into law on October 19, 2022. The Nigeria Startup Act established the institutional and legal framework to create an enabling business environment that supports the formation, operation, and growth of tech-driven/tech-enabled talents and startups.

The NSA aims to position the country’s startup ecosystem as Africa’s premier hub for digital technology, with outstanding innovators with cutting-edge expertise and exportable capacity. Suffice it to say that the major objective of this law is to engender cooperation between startups and regulators to harness the potential of the country’s digital economy.

Tech-enabled startups are expected to seamlessly transform and saturate industries with market-creating solutions as a result of the Act. Startups will leverage this highly anticipated law to enhance their operations in Nigeria’s digital innovation and entrepreneurship space.

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) serves as the Secretariat responsible for the implementation of this law. Headed by the Director-General of NITDA, the Secretariat will ensure that the National Digital Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Startup Policy (NDIESP), is implemented for the development of the startup ecosystem.

The overall duty of administering the law’s provisions is vested in the National Council for Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship: the lead implementing organ of the Act. The Council has the responsibility of formulating the general policy guidelines and direction for laws and regulations to guide the operation of startups.

Shortly after former President, Muhammadu Buhari’s inauguration of the Council on 5th April 2023, NITDA initiated strategic activities to signpost its preparedness for efficient and robust implementation of the startup laws. Earlier, the immediate past Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami) inaugurated an implementation committee to coordinate operational plans of the Secretariat in terms of digital innovation and entrepreneurship.

As the Secretariat for NSA implementation, NITDA is tasked with mobilizing the cooperation and participation of relevant stakeholders. This is to establish a platform on which the diverse stakeholders may pool their knowledge, experiences, and shared purpose to successfully execute the startup legislation.

Subsequently, NITDA (NSA Secretariat), through its subsidiary, the Office for Nigerian Digital Innovation (ONDI), in collaboration with the legal practitioners, Edoigiawerie and Company, organized a one-day virtual workshop for startup founders tagged Startup Founders’ Webinar. With “Leveraging Nigerian Startup Act for Economic Growth’’ as the theme, the webinar serves as one of the initiatives for creating awareness about the NSA.

Not fewer than 152 startup founders attended the webinar which served as a platform to express their concerns and high-priority issues on benefits/incentives in the NSA while also proffering suggestions on the way forward. Such discussions are envisaged to guide ecosystem players and enthusiasts to gain knowledge on regulatory compliance and its importance to the startup ecosystem. This affirms the priority NITDA places on NSA implementation activities and the adequate preparation of founders to benefit from the NSA.

The Director-General of NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, emphasized that the webinar formed an integral part of initiatives to engender sustained collaboration and frank discussions among relevant stakeholders in Nigeria’s startup ecosystem. He dwelt on the imperative of continuous cooperation as vital to the efficient application of the NSA for empowering innovative youths with the resources/knowledge they need to launch startups and fast-track nationwide prosperity.

Abdullahi, who spoke through the acting National Coordinator of ONDI, Yakubu Musa said: “The Startup Act provides us a starting point for a support system to address the initial ecosystem challenges and offers a landscape of the environment that enables innovation, encourages collaboration, and gives our indigenous founders the freedom to actualize their ground-breaking ideas.

“As an agency of the government, we hope that we (relevant stakeholders) will embrace this opportunity to share knowledge, work together, and be inspired by one another. This is a chance to unleash the nation’s innovation-driven growth for the expansion of the economy and to take Nigeria to new heights.

For the NITDA D-G, the successful execution of the NSA remains a matter of utmost national priority and prosperity. He, therefore, concluded by soliciting all the stakeholders to harmonize, innovate, and exploit Nigeria’s abounding entrepreneurial potential. He echoed that the necessity of collaboration was inevitable as the Secretariat requires the cooperation of all players in the startup ecosystem to successfully execute the Act.

Thus, the startup founders urged the Council to urgently approve for the Secretariat to establish the Startup Support and Engagement Portal (Startup Portal) to enable startups to begin the registration process with relevant MDAs for a licence as labelled startups. They are keen to start accessing the various schemes, incentives, and other opportunities the federal government provides.

Without a doubt, this maiden engagement between the NSA Secretariat and the players in the startup ecosystem is an optimistic and fundamental groundwork indicative of fruitful results ahead. NITDA, through ONDI, has proclaimed its readiness to mobilize the ecosystem for the collaborative and effective execution of the startup laws to build startups that propel the country’s economic prosperity.

*Inyene Ibanga is with the Corporate and Communication Desk, Office for Nigerian Digital Innovation (ONDI)
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