The Director General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa, CCIE, has said that promoting and supporting digital job creation for female folks in the country is a crucial step that would foster inclusivity and bridge the tech gender gap.

Inuwa, represented by Acting Director, Digital Literacy and Capacity Building Department, Dr Amina Magaji-Sambo, stated this at the opening ceremony of the Female Founder Training organised by the Office for Nigerian Digital Innovation (ONDI), a subsidiary of the agency in Abuja.

He noted that the initiative is aimed at supporting and empowering women in Nigeria to leverage digital technologies for building viable and scalable businesses.

“This training program is dedicated to discovering and highlighting innovative and technology-based concepts, ideas and solutions created by women in Nigeria. The goal is to bridge gender disparities in the technological industry and encourage the creation of digital employment opportunities for women,” he said.

He added that “within just two weeks, the call for the Female Founders Training resonated across the country, eliciting an extraordinary response of 7,151 applications from the 36 states; this shows the overwhelming interest that underscores the untapped potential and enthusiasm that exists among our women in the field of technology.”

“The response to our call was amazing, and participants underwent a meticulous three-stage selection process to ensure the best fit for the program. At the end of this rigorous process, I’m proud to announce that 12 successful candidates emerged, and they are strategically chosen to represent each of the 6 geopolitical zones,” he added.

He further disclosed that the mission encompasses identifying and showcasing innovative tech-based ideas and solutions developed by Nigerian females. “We aim to promote and support these tech-based ventures founded by women which would enable the closure of gender gaps that exists in the tech ecosystem.

In his earlier remarks, the Acting National Coordinator of ONDI, Mr Yakubu Musa, affirmed the support for women’s inclusion in the tech ecosystem to bridge the gap.

While acknowledging that females are changing the narrative with a keen interest in innovative businesses that will change and shape their lives, Mr. Musa said, “this will pave way for women’s advancement in the tech ecosystem.”

Musa noted that the objectives of the program are rooted in empowerment, diversity, growth and network building to equip aspiring female entrepreneurs with not just knowledge but the practical skills and resources needed for building and nurturing start-ups through series of workshops, mentoring sessions, and networking opportunities.

He stated that business growth is not a mere goal, it is a commitment to guiding start-ups adding that “we aim not just for sustainability and profitability, but for the creation of opportunities that ripple through communities leading to the creation of jobs and empowerment.”

Musa pointed out that ONDI is ready to forge a network alliance of entrepreneurs, mentors and investors, a relationship that will fuel innovation and access to essential resources to build a community of tech experts for the advancement of the country.

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The Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, CCIE has presented laptops to top ten learners of the cohort 2 NITDA-COURSERA Training Programme who were the first to successfully complete their professional certification.

The DG made the presentation during the November edition of the NITDA-COURSERA familiarisation webinar.

Represented by the Acting Director, Digital Literacy and Capacity Building Department, Dr Amina Sambo- Magaji, the Director-General congratulated the beneficiaries and commended them for surpassing expectations, creatively utilising the knowledge gained during the training and performing excellently.

Inuwa who noted that the promise of giving laptops as prizes to winners was to encourage healthy competition among the trainees for them to think outside the box and perform optimally in their respective areas of interest, especially as the outcome of the first batch of trainees wasn’t quite satisfactory, expressed satisfaction at the innovative ideas birthed by the learners.

“After our first batch, we realised that the competition rate was not very encouraging, so, we looked at different options, brainstormed on possible best option to increase the competition rate and one of them was the concept of giving the laptops which eventually paid off as there were timely and tangible results gotten from learners.”

“Also, we know that having a laptop will support you in actually using it as a tool for job, so, it was more of a double impact”, the DG stated.

The NITDA Boss reiterated the fact that the youthful population of the country remains one of the key competitive advantages over other nations and as such should be explored and exploited to achieve the Federal Government’s quest of making Nigeria the global talent hub.

“For us to be able to harness the potential of that competitive advantage we have in our youthful population, that is why we are undertaking a number of capacity building initiatives to make sure that Nigerians have access to the global on-demand skills”, Inuwa maintained.

According to Inuwa “most of the beneficiaries completed their professional certification in Cybersecurity, Data Analytics, and Digital Marketing”.

While presenting the laptops to the ten outstanding learners who completed their NITDA-Coursera courses, the DG encouraged them not to relent in their efforts to bridge the digital gap and come up with indigenous solutions that have global impact, adding that their expected contributions to the tech ecosystem will trigger the needed growth in the industry, the Nation’s digital economy as well as their general well-being.

Some of the beneficiaries who shared their success stories, thanked NITDA-Coursera for affording them the opportunity to learn on the platform.

They assured the organisers that they will most definitely use the transformative experience to impact on their chosen fields as well as contribute their quota by passing on the knowledge to others.

Earlier, the Assistant Director, Digital Literacy and Capacity Building Department, NITDA, Dr. Ahmad Yusuf Tambuwal while giving an overview of the NITDA-COURSERA Scholarship Programme said Coursera is one of the world’s top online learning platforms hosting thousands of courses from some of the world’s best universities and tech companies.

According to Dr Tambuwal, “In its effort to achieve its One Million Developer and Skills target, NITDA established a 3-year learning partnership with Coursera with effect from 19 October 2022”, stressing that the partnership is designed to be implemented in six (6) Cohorts: (Cohort 1 – Cohort 6).

“Learners in each Cohort will receive full access Coursera licenses for self-learning and professional development over a six (6) months duration and every 6 months, at least 4000 learners are graduated from the programme while a new set of learners are onboarded and invited to join the platform”.

“NITDA organises monthly webinars to give learners direct access to Coursera and NITDA support teams, interaction and networking, Q&A, guest lectures etc.”, Tambuwal noted.

NITDA, he explained further, implements a license management policy to ensure full utilisation of available licenses.

“If a license is not being utilised, several reminder emails are sent to the learner, and if still not being used, it is eventually revoked & re-allocated”.

“So far, the first set of 4000 learners In Cohort 1 have already graduated, and Cohort 2 learners will be graduating at the end of December 2023”, Dr Tambuwal added.

The hybrid event which witnessed over 500 participants joining the webinar also featured a brief on how the NITDA-COURSERA platform works by the Coursera representative and host, Khaled Kokhon.

The NITDA-Cousera partnership is aimed at achieving some key objectives which include: empowering twenty-four thousand (24,000) Nigerians with digital & developer skills in 3 years, empowering Nigerian citizens with job-ready skills and create a large pool of IT talents for the local and global markets, fostering innovation and supporting start-ups with IT knowledge & skills needed to build real-life solutions.

It is worthy to also mention that since the start of Cohort 2 in June 2023, learners have spent over 10,000 hours learning on Coursera every month as July witnessed over 20,000 learning hours.

So far, 12,664 Courses have been completed by the learners since the programme started.

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TECHDIGEST – As part of efforts to foster the implementation of the digital literacy and skills pillar of the Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan (SRAP 2021-2024), the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), today conducted virtual inauguration of the Government Stakeholders Engagement Committee for the Development of the National Digital Skills Strategy (NDSS).

The Director General, Kashifu Inuwa, CCIE, speaking at the event recognises that collaborating with key government stakeholders to develop the NDSS will eminently assist in producing a very strong and encompassing strategy.

The NDSS inaugural engagement committee comprised of representatives from relevant Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs), saddled with the responsibility to develop and co-create the National Digital Skills and Strategy (NDSS) which will focus on balancing the gaps between the digital skills supply pipeline and in-demand skill sets required for the future of work in Nigeria.

Inuwa who was represented by the Director IT Infrastructure Solutions, ITIS Dr Usman Gambo Abdullahi noted that there was a call earlier for volunteer experts to conduct research in determining the talent gap assessment, adding that the assessment was carried out by Co-Creation Hub which culminated into the first draft of the NDSS.

He cited Statista on the 2021 World Bank, International Finance Corporation Report on the adoption rate of digital skills which was projected to increase from 25% to 45% by 2030. ”The demand for digital skills in sub-Saharan Africa shows a higher tertiary Gross Enrolment Ratio, (GER) of about 11 percent and will result in an increased number of digitally literate graduates,” he said.

The NITDA boss further stated that, with a population of over 200 million, Nigerians which accounts for 47% of West Africa’s population, “Nigeria has a significant brain capital advantage with a large youthful population of an average age of 19 years. Nigeria has a strong comparative advantage to leverage on technology and use this opportunity to supply labor to the global market.”

READ ALSO: Kwara State hosts 250 tech innovators for hackathon to improve govt operations

He reiterated that NITDA has been driving the growth and regulation of the IT sector in the country, providing an enabling environment under the leadership of the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy to boost the growth of the Nigerian ICT industry. These are targeted to maximize our socio-economic opportunities as we are leading our nation to embrace digital transformation, and to achieve 95% Digital Literacy penetration by the year 2030 as one of the critical key pillars and targets of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS), Inuwa said.

Speaking earlier, the Acting Director, Digital Literacy and Capacity Building department of the Agency, Dr. Amina Sambo Magaji said,” we are in the era where skills can give you access to job either physically, remotely or help you to start enterprises that can create jobs for the nation and the world at large.”

She emphasized that any certificate acquired without the right skill set would likely be disadvantageous to the person in this digital era. “This strategy is coming at a time when we are bridging the talent gap, not just in Nigeria but globally,” Dr. Magaji said.

She added that the Rule Making Process (RMP) of NITDA encourages the involvement stakeholders in the development of strategic document hence the need for the engagement.

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TECHDIGEST – As digital technologies continue to change the world by transforming existing traditional processes to digital processes to enhance productivity, the Director-General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa CCIE, has re-emphasised the need to adopt digital transformation in order to succeed in accelerating the growth and modernisation of Nigeria’s economy and governance.

Inuwa said this at the Closing Ceremony of a 4-Day Capacity Building Programme on e-Government and Digital Transformation Programme for Permanent Secretaries and Directors in Kano State.

The DG, who was represented by Ag. Director, Digital Literacy and Capacity Building Department of the Agency, Dr. Amina Sambo Magaji while underscoring the importance of the training said the agency as a forward-looking organisation is aware of the relevance of civil servants as the key to delivering government policies and programme.

READ ALSO: NITDA Formulates National e-Commerce Policy To Protect Online Business

According to him, digital transformation efforts of the government cannot be completed without actively involving the Civil Servants.

He further affirmed that the Federal Government of Nigeria is keen on digitalising its activities for which Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) are central to the implementation.

“To institutionalise the digitalisation programmes in MDAs, NITDA structured its Strategic Roadmap and Action plan (SRAP 2021-2024) towards the implementation of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS). We have the Digital Literacy and Skills as a strategic pillar to complement the National Digital Literacy Framework in achieving President Muhammadu Buhari administration’s target of 95% digital literacy by 2030”.

“We have supported so many state governments with digital tools and training, we are already collaborating and will always be willing to partner with stakeholders to support our e-Government Transformation, Digital Economy, Diversification and Sustainability Plan for the country”, he added.

While urging the participants to partake fully and transfer the knowledge gained at the end of the training to their staff who could not make it to the training, Inuwa pledged the agency’s unflinching determination towards achieving the actualization of 95% Digital Literacy by 2030.

The Kano State Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje who was represented by his Chief of Staff and Head of Service, Alhaji Usman Bala Mohammed, gave an overview of the Capacity Building Programme, affirming that the participants are staff drawn from MDAs of kano State.

He further explained that the training is timely, considering the fact that the world is rapidly changing from analog to digital.

“Upskilling Permanent Secretaries will help Kano State to catch up with the rest of the world in the areas of digitisation, technology adaptation and digital transformation programmes in the work place”, he said.

Governor Ganduje expressed his hope that the batches which has a number of 214 participants have learnt a lot and will utilise the knowledge gained to achieve the desired aim of the training

While commending the giant strides by NITDA in changing the narratives of Digital Economy in Nigeria and Africa at large, he gave assurances of maximum collaboration between the Kano State Government and NITDA in the coming days ahead.

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TECHDIGEST – In alignment with the global best practices through the implementation of the present administration’s National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS), The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) under the supervision of the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy has trained teeming youths on Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR).

As technology is getting increasingly accessible to everyone all over the world, Emerging Technologies such as VR and AR have ousted traditional processes by significantly enhancing the interaction between the physical and digital worlds to ease the way of doing things and making life more comfortable.

The NITDA’s Director General Kashifu Inuwa, CCIE while addressing the graduating participants at the closing ceremony of the five day capacity building programme, admonished them to astutely apply the skills learnt in their various fields.

While congratulating them on the successful completion of the programme, Inuwa, who was represented by the Agency’s Acting Director, Digital Literacy and Capacity Building Department, Dr. Amina Sambo Magaji expressed his excitement at the initiative intended to aspire Nigerian youths in exploring all areas of technology.

Driven by the increase in demand for AR and VR technology globally which is exponentially increasing the market value of the technology, Inuwa noted that there are lots of opportunities that can be leveraged on and it was imperative to build capacities of youths in the field to exploit all opportunities the industry could offer.

“You can use these skills to become entrepreneurs by identifying problems and come up with innovative driven enterprises to solve them; use what you have learnt here to create applications to solve problems so that you can also make business and money out of your knowledge,” he stated.

While encouraging the fresh graduates to build on their newly acquired knowledge and skills exposed to during the programme, he advised them to explore other Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) to increase their proficiencies.

“In addition to what you have learnt here, I want you to visit the NITDA Academy and other online courses so that you can create powerful social media handles for yourselves and apply for global digital jobs from anywhere you are,” he concluded.

READ ALSO: NCC Sets To Issue Two More 5G Licences

Giving his remarks earlier, the National Director, National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (NCAIR), a subsidiary of NITDA, Engr. Garba Ya’u appreciated the passion of the Director General in creating capacity for Nigerian youths in areas of Emerging Technologies.

Stressing the importance of VR and AR, Engr. Ya’u stated that the importance of the training cannot be over emphasised due to the numerous potentials it possesses in all areas which range from medicine, engineering and architecture amongst others.

“It is a privilege for you to have this training and I hope you will build on it and do more in this area”, he concluded.

At the end of the programme, all participants were presented with Virtual Reality Headsets and Certificates.

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TECHDIGEST – The Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa CCIE, has re-echoed the agency’s commitment as the nations apex IT regulatory body towards creating enabling policies for the development, use and adoption of Digital Technology in supporting and enhancing the living standard of women entrepreneurs across the country.

The DG said this at the first edition of the ECOWAS Female Parliamentarians Association (ECOFEPA) Women and Youth Leadership Symposium which held in Abuja.

Inuwa who was represented by the Deputy Director, Digital Economy Development Department of the Agency, Dr Amina Sambo Magaji, noted that given NITDA’s mandate, the organization is deeply drawn to developmental initiatives which explains the importance the Agency attaches to the symposium.

“NITDA supported the symposium with Technology Tools that will help enhance Entrepreneurship especially amongst Women and Youth in general”.

According to the NITDA Boss, the inability of a country to create digital presence in today’s dynamic digital world translates to having a nonexistent Nation.

“Technology is an enabler that many people around the world leverage on to create their digital presence. Without the right technological tools, we will not be able to advance as a country, economically and politically. In the light of this, NITDA is very interested and supportive of this symposium”.

Outlining the Agency’s several opportunities that support Women and Youth Entrepreneurship, Inuwa said a subsidiary was specifically established and named Office of the Nigeria Digital Innovation (ONDI), primarily to foster the growth of Technology and Innovation in Nigeria.

The President of the ECOWAS Female Parliamentarians Association (ECOFEPA), Filimena Viera, while observing that whereas, women and youths constitute the significant percentage of the world’s population, their continued deprivation in virtually all areas of affairs has increasingly become a source of concern; attributed the factors responsible to their age, gender, limited opportunities and assumed lack of political experience.

Viera noted that among the major reasons for African continent’s backwardness is the fact that Women and Youth have not been given their rightful places in governance.

“Youths are the future, hence the need for the creation of relevant platforms where they can exchange ideas, experiences and amplify best practices. To address the menace of Women and Youth marginalisation, effective policy framework mechanism has to be in place, so as to ensure equity and to guarantee a sustainable society where basic human rights are recognized. Platforms that will inspire, mentor and avail the Women and Youth training on the required kkill set cannot be over emphasized”.

READ ALSO: NITDA Shares Country’s Roadmap With Stakeholders At Dubai’s Blockchain Gathering

Meanwhile, as part of it’s contribution towards guaranteeing the development of Women and Youth Entrepreneurship as championed by the Sub – regional Parliamentarians Association, twenty laptop computers were donated by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA).

The ECOWAS Female Parliamentarians Association (ECOFEPA) is an umbrella body of all Female members of the ECOWAS Parliaments; primarily established to assist Parliamentarians from the Sub – region use their legislative mandates to empower Women through qualitative legislation.

NITDA’s presence at the event further underscored the parastatal’s immense regards for women empowerment and efforts toward inspiring both Women and Youth Entrepreneurial skills in Nigeria, through the Agency’s mentorship guidance and technical support.

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