NITDA foresees Nigeria as global tech talent hub
TECHDIGEST – The Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency, Kashifu Inuwa, has stated that Nigeria is set to plug the global talent deficit in the technology sector by supplying locally trained talents to the global market.
According to him, global talent deficiency will hit 85 million by 2030. He said, “We have some flagship initiatives and projects which we believe can help us capture value; one of such is building and hatching talents because according to research, by 2030, there is going to be 85 million talent deficits globally, making talent a huge industry itself.
“So, we are working towards making Nigeria position itself as the world’s talent factory, exporting our brains, providing a talented workforce to render services to establishments, Nigeria, the continent, and the world at large.”
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He disclosed this when NITDA in collaboration with the Federal Inland Revenue Service held a stakeholders’ engagement forum to interact on ways of improving payment timelines.
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Inuwa explained that by becoming a talent supplier, Nigeria would not only be helping the world close its talent gap, but also be benefiting from an estimated $8.5tn that would have been lost in unrealised revenues by 2030.
He noted that the agency’s National Digital Skills Strategy Implementation, which was geared towards achieving a 95 per cent digitally literate population by 2030, has the capacity to train one million developers to potentially generate $20bn annually.
The NITDA DG also stated the agency was set to implement the Nigeria Start-up Act and National Digital Skills Strategy, complete the National Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship Centre, National Data Strategy Implementation, adoption of blockchain technology, amongst others.
He added, “As we look to the future, NITDA is committed to sustaining the momentum, leveraging emerging technologies, developing policies and strategies that promote digital transformation, and creating an enabling environment for startups and entrepreneurs to thrive.”
“We believe that with you all, we can build a more prosperous Nigeria, a country that is at the forefront of Africa’s digital economy, and a nation that can compete globally.”
He further stated that the country was paying attention to what was happening in the Artificial Intelligence space and was set to tread its roadmap for the adoption of AI, effectively tapping into a market that is expected to grow to $13tn by 2030.
