NITDA Embarks on Grassroots Engagement in Eight States
TECHDIGEST – In its aspiration to be closer to its stakeholders, the National Information Technology Development Agency, (NITDA), organized a one-day Stakeholders’ Engagement Programme on Tuesday in Gombe, to cascade its programs, projects, and policies to the grassroots people.
The Stakeholders Engagement Programme slated to hold in eight different states across the country, commenced in Gombe with the theme “Creating Opportunities, Breaking Boundaries: Towards Digitalisation and Entrepreneurial Evolution.”
Speaking virtually during the first edition of the program, the NITDA Director-General, Kashifu Inuwa, represented by the Director, Information Technology Infrastructure Solutions, Dr. Usman Abdullahi, disclosed that the Agency holds its stakeholders in high esteem and would ensure they derive value from all NITDA’s interventions.
The other States where the program would be taken place includes Bauchi, Kano. Kaduna Lagos, Ogun, Rivers, and Bayelsa.
Inuwa said, “Stakeholders’ Engagement Program is aimed at delivering values to our stakeholders and this is in tandem with our core values of people first, innovative and professionalism.”
“That would not be possible without listening to you and speaking with you to get clarity on your perspective, aspirations, and needs,” he disclosed.
Inuwa noted that the meeting would serve as a veritable platform to pool knowledge, experiences, and expertise and to create solutions, articulate strategies, and extend the Agency’s services to all its stakeholders.
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He maintained that the objectives of the program are; to offer stakeholders the opportunity to express their views and opinions on matters related to the Agency’s implementation of its mandate, establish a sustainable collaboration and consistent channel for feedback and exchange of ideas, and also share with the stakeholders the Agency’s vision, the regulatory instrument for national development and the Agency’s journey so far.
The NITDA DG assured the participants that the Agency is not oblivious of the fact that more still needs to be done and pledged the commitment of the Agency to make further progress with the stakeholders in the coming years.
The Gombe State Commissioner of Science, Technology, and Innovation, Dr. Aisha Umar Maigari in her goodwill remarks commended NITDA for the roles it is playing in ensuring that policies are also domesticated in states which she described as a better way to ensure uniformity in developing the ICT sector in the country.
She stated that the Stakeholders’ Engagement Program is coming at the right time when the state needs more collaboration from NITDA.
She said NITDA has helped them develop a very ambitious state ICT policy and the state has since commenced implementation of some of the initiatives in the document after it has carried out need assessment analysis.
She added that the present administration has ensured that civil servants in the state are using dot ng for government businesses, adding that the state is building the capacity of the staff also in the area of basic computer operation for its staff and promoting digital literacy in the state especially among the underserved and unserved indigene of the state.
The Commissioner also disclosed that most of the government processes have been digitized, especially, in the area of internally generated revenue to the government.
Also commenting on the programme, Mallam Zakari Suleiman of the Computer Professional Council of Nigeria, CPCN, urged NITDA to constitute a monitoring team that would be inspecting all its interventions with a view of ascertaining their proper usage.
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