TECHDIGEST – The Federal Government under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari has inaugurated a presidential council on digital and e-government master plan to strengthen the capacity of government, to develop, adopt and deploy technologies to make government more efficient, transparent and to improve Nigerian’s global standard in doing business.

The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Pantami inaugurated the members on behalf of the president. 

“The National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy, which is the umbrella policy of the current administration, is not only Federal policy but also a national one. Being a national policy, it means other tiers of government have a strong role to play, particularly our governors and other institutes under their leadership.

“Mr. President, in his wisdom, has selected one governor from each political zone to represent various zones in the country, so that any policy or decision to be taken at the Federal level will be accepted and implemented by our states since they are represented and they are part of this national assignment.

“For the south-south, the governor of Edo State has been selected and appointed by Mr. President; from south-east, the governor of Imo State; from south-west, the governor of Lagos State; from the north-central the governor of Nasarawa State; from the north-west, the governor of Kaduna State and from the north-east, the governor of Gombe State.

“Mr. President has appointed two vice chancellors to represent academia; the vice-chancellors of the Ahmadu Bello University Zaria and the Federal University of Technology Owerri.”

The industry is also represented in the council, based on the president’s approval, by the Association of the Telecommunication Companies. 

“In the national digital policy and strategy which has been approved and launched by Mr President, there are eight pillars implemented. The pillars include developmental regulations to ensure effective regulations of the sector to facilitate development, digital skills, solid infrastructure, service infrastructure, digital services, soft infrastructure, digital society and technology, indigenous context and development promotion. 

“From the time the president launched the policy till date, a lot has been achieved. For some of the pillars, more than 70 per cent has been achieved. Many states have good initiatives on digital economy. The framework is going to be developed, so that our sub-nationals will play their roles and the Federal Government will continue to intervene where necessary.

“The president’s appointment of the Minister of Trade, Industry and Investment [is to] ensure that we bring many more benefits to our country.”

In his remarks, the director-general of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Mallam Kashifu Abdullahi, stressed that “there is a need for the council to sit down and look at the tropical issues and set a direction for the e-government and the digital economy, provide political and overall leadership and coordinate and provide overall direction in promoting e-government and digital economy, as well as facilitate mutual benefitting partnership through the private sector and development partners as an alternative source of funding to derive the implementation of the e-government and the digital economy programme.

“Under the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy, we have an ambitious target of achieving 95 per cent digital literacy by 2030.”

In his remarks, the Imo State governor, Sen. Hope Uzodimma disclosed that part of the assignment given to the secretariat is to develop a framework that will enable the state to align properly with the Federal Policy of a digital economy.

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TECHDIGEST – The Senate last Thursday passed the Nigeria Start-up Bill, NSB after four months of going through the contents.

The Bill drafted between June and September 2021 by over 30 tech leaders aims at providing enablement to some of the teething problems in the start-up ecosystem.

Since the 2000 when Nigeria began to assume a high flying status in technology development, some of the problems that have bedeviled the sector are mainly infrastructural decay, poor access to funding and near-harmful regulations.

There is probably no other aspect of the sector that has been as hard hit by these inadequacies than the start-up sub sector. Start-ups are companies in the first stage of their operations, often being financed by the entrepreneurial founders during the initial starting period. Most of them graduate mainly from the informal sector, which has remained the mainstay of the Nigerian economy and deserved all the support they can get.

However, the Nigerian business sector appears skewed and mainly supports politicians rather than entrepreneurs that need the supports to boost economic prosperity.

After over two decades of suffering in silence, about 30 start-ups including Ventures Platform founder Kola Aina and Future Africa founder Iyin Aboyeji, and some government officials like National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA officials, and the Minister of Digital Economy, prof. Isa Pantami, decided to put heads together to salvage the situation.

Their efforts resulted in the Nigeria Start-up Bill, NSB, which was submitted to the Presidency and the Federal Executive Council, FEC in October 2021 and got approved in December of that year.

READ ALSO: Senate Passes Nigeria Start-up Bill

After reading through the bill, President Muhammadu Buhari, passed it to the National Assembly in February 2022 and the National Assembly began the processes of reading in March 2022.

In June 2022, the bill attracted the interest of Lagos State government who announced plans to domesticate it at state level.

Interestingly, last Thursday, Senate approved the bill and is looking up to the House of Representatives for harmonisation.

If finally passed into law, the Act will bridge the engagement gap between start-ups and regulators and ensure that harmful regulations are shut down. Among other things, the bill also seeks to provide incentives, such as tax breaks, government loans and credit guarantee schemes for the establishment, development and operation of start-ups in the country.

It will also ensure that start-ups that require licensing from regulators such as the CBN and Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC will enjoy accelerated processes.

This is in addition to the protection of intellectual property for start-ups and for those that want to exit and raise money through the stock exchange to be free to do so.

Reacting to the passing of the bill by the Senate, a co-founder of a start-up, BipEDGE platform, Mr Ubong Ibanga, said: “The passing of the bill by the house of assembly is certainly a step in the right direction. It’s a bill that is very long overdue, and if fully and correctly implemented after it gets the nod of the Federal Government, will greatly improve starting and growing a business in Nigeria. So, as a matter of urgency, the President should just sign it into law immediately”

Also, the Partner and Head of technology, innovation and intellectual property at the law firm of AELEX, Mr. Davidson Oturu, said he considered the passage as a huge milestone.
He said: “Hopefully, the House would pass it within the next few weeks and then it proceeds to the President for his assent.

“There are many gaps we consider the Bill will fill. Firstly, there is the issue around regulatory certainty. A lot of start-ups consider that government policies and regulations spring up suddenly which can affect their business models. Some examples readily come to mind include the cryptocurrency restrictions and banning of motorcycles that affected Gokada’s business model.

“What the Bill seeks to do is to harmonise laws and regulations so that start-ups will be aware of the different matters that will affect them.

“Furthermore, there is a National Council for Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship that is being set up under the law. This Council will comprise relevant government officials as well as start-ups. The implication of this is that start-ups will have the opportunity to determine the laws and policies that will affect them.

“Due to the challenges faced by taxation of start-ups before they have even begun to scale, the Bill provides tax incentives for start-ups and they also have the opportunity to enjoy some of the incentives under the pioneer status scheme.

“With respect to funding, which is also another problem for start-ups; a seed investment fund will also be set up. The seed investment fund will provide funding for qualified early stage start-ups.

“There are also incentives for other participants that contribute to the growth of the ecosystem such as angel investors; private equity funds/venture capitalists, accelerators and incubators.

“For start-ups that require space and opportunities to build their innovative products and services, technology parks will be set up to meet their needs and provide a conducive environment for them to grow their business ideas. All these are why the bill should receive Mr President’s immediate assent” he added.

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TECHDIGEST – Governor Badaru Abubakar of Jigawa State, and presidential aspirant under the platform  All Progressive Congress (APC), , has advocated APC Ambassadors for Good Governance to engage grassroots in propagating achievements of the party across the 774 Local Governments in the country.

Governor Badaru, who was represented by Director General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa CCIE, made the appeal at APC Ambassadors for Good Governance unveiling of an Appraisal Hub on Good Governance and Official Inauguration of 36 State Chapter Coordinators of the organization which took place in Abuja.

The governor stated that APC as party, has achieved a lot in the last seven years, and what left for its ambassadors is to amplify the achievements recorded under President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, adding that “as Ambassadors for Good Governance, you have a huge role to play in mobilizing voters for our great party during upcoming elections.”

While attributing good governance to APC, the governor noted that the ruling party is known to have mastered the art of consensus, and youth participation in politics, according to him, that credits can never be taken away from the ruling party.

He said President Buhari set a record by signing Disability Bill, a bill that was hanging for about two decades without Presidential assent. But by signing the bill, it allows people living with disabilities to participate on various national issues.

“We all know how this administration gave a special consideration for women, men and youth, and the party follows rule of law. In the history of this country, there were never a government that follows rule of law like that of President Buhari,” he said.

He added that, APC is effective and efficient in project delivery, and initiatives that touch the lives of Nigerian citizens.

“We have so many developmental programmes like Social Investment, first of its kind in the history of this country. We have youth centric and many other programmes that help Nigeria diversify its economy.

President Buhari initiated the Home-Grown Feeding Programme which is designed to put an end to importation and market monopoly of farm produce that can be grown here in Nigeria, which was a pilot vehicle to sustainable economic, agricultural, academic and job creation across the length and breadth of the nation.

The Buhari administration followed steps to improve the standards of Nigeria’s agricultural exports to align with global standards due to the rejection of our produce at the EU Border Controls.

The Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP) of the Central Bank of Nigeria under the Buhari-led administration has made available billions of naira to farmers of rice, wheat, maize, cotton, cassava, poultry, soy beans and groundnut.

President Buhari-led administration set up the Presidential Fertilizer Initiative (PFI) to deliver commercially significant quantities of affordable and high-quality fertilizer to the Nigerian farmers at the right time

“Before we came to power, Nigeria’s economy was oil dependent but today, oil contributes less than 8% of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This shows how this government is effective and efficient in economy diversification.

READ ALSO: FLOEWS, MEDTECH AFRICA Emerge Winners At Abuja GITEX 2022 Pitch Competition

Speaking further on accountability, Governor Badaru said no government in the history of Nigeria will match APC administration. Noting that President Muhammadu Buhari holds everyone accountable and gives autonomy to all political appointees to discharge their responsibilities in accordance with the rule of law.

“We have never had a transparent government like this APC administration. It is under APC we have IPPIS and Treasury Single Account (TSA) working. This is what makes government more accountable and transparent. Every kobo this government spent can be tracked. Today, you can’t take government money just like that, the way it was happening before; where government officials transfer money without accounting for it,” he added.

He said the APC has done quite a lot in terms of infrastructure and social development, and politically, the President Buhari has had 12 million votes in the last election, and he will not be on the ballot in next election, so it is the responsibilities of APC Ambassadors to go back to their states, mobilize people, showcase to them the achievements of APC.

“Our selling points should be our visible achievements. Nigerians should be abreast about the good work we have done, and what we will do in future. Of all the policies we had, it is time to assimilate what we have achieved and pass them on to Nigerians.

“Gathering like this would be the beginning to show Nigerians what good governance is, and this will create a sense of urgency. As Ambassadors, you have to go back to your locality and sell the good governance of this great party.

“You formed a coalition and inaugurated state chapter coordinators, you have a mission and vision you are going to sell which is Good Governance, sell it to Nigerians. Take it to every ward across the 774 Local Government Areas we have in the country,” he stated.

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TECHDIGEST – The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has been conferred with the “National Productivity Order of Merit (NPOM) Award” of recognition of the Agency’s high productivity, hard work and excellence in service delivery.

President Muhammadu Buhari chaired the Award Ceremony at the Banquet Hall, State House, Asokoro, Abuja.

The Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa, CCIE received the glamorous Award on behalf of the Agency.

READ ALSO: NITDA Inaugurates Taskforce On Domain Name Compliance Policy

According to the National Productivity Order of Merit Award Committee, NITDA’s recommendation and subsequent nomination came after a vigorous selection process, and the agency recorded impressive and commendable achievements in facilitating the development of Nigeria into a sustainable digital economy.

“NITDA adheres strictly to information security and safety. The Agency’s proactive action in creating a robust incident Management Procedure, through which any irregular or adverse event that occurs and affects the normal functioning of a system is adequately dealt with, is a worthy accomplishment”, the statement read.

The Award which falls into the “2020 Organizational Category” highlights NITDA as the only government agency among other privately owned Organizations to be so recognized.

Statement from the organisers further read: “Another commendable attribute of the agency is its commitment to improve and sustain productivity through training and retraining of staff. As a matter of policy, every staff of NITDA is expected to have at least forty hours of training within three years. This has resulted in improved competencies, knowledge and skills of the Staff”.

Shortly after the receiving the award from President Buhari, Inuwa pledged the Agency’s continuous determination towards the expansion of the digital space in order to impact more lives of many Nigerians through the development of increased critical mass of IT proficient and global competitive manpower.

As the only (Government’s Agency) recipient of the National Award this year,  and as an Apex IT Agency charged with the responsibility of creating an enabling environment where Nigerians will develop, adopt, and derive value from digital technologies, NITDA sees the honour as not just  ‘a pat on the back’ but a challenge to intensify efforts towards its digital inclusion pursuits.

NITDA has been in the forefront of the Digital journey of the Federal Government in ensuring that the country puts its best foot forward in being the comity of technologically driven Nations.

The National Productivity Order of Merit Award which was part of activities to celebrate the 19th National Productivity Day is an award of honour and dignity instituted by Federal Government to recognize hard work and excellence.

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TECHDIGEST – In view of the fact that digital technologies are changing the world at a faster pace than previously experienced waves of technological innovation and are reshaping and introducing new business models and sectors, the Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa CCIE, has reemphasized the need to have a digitally literate workforce, if Nigeria must succeed in accelerating the growth and modernization of its economy and governance.

READ ALSO: Pantami, Danbatta Lead Industry Experts To Chart Way For 5G Rollout At PIAFo

He said this at the virtual Opening Ceremony of a capacity building programme for members of staff of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), Military and Paramilitary on Digital Literacy, Cyber Security Essentials and Cloud Computing.

The NITDA Boss who was represented by the Agency’s Special Assistant (Techincal), Dr. Onimisi Yahaya Mohammed while underscoring the importance of the training said the agency as a forward-looking organization is aware of the relevance of civil servants in delivering government programmes.

According to the DG, the digital transformation efforts of the government cannot be completed without carrying along the Civil Servants, Military and Paramilitary.

Inuwa further affirmed that the Federal Government of Nigeria is keen on digitalizing its activities; for which the MDAs are central to the implementation.

Meanwhile, to institutionalize the digitalization programmes in the Federal Public Institutions (FPIs), the Director-General said NITDA had to set up Digital Transformation Technical Working Group (DTTWG) whose members are meant to drive down the programmes at a different level of government.

He recalled that so far, the members of DTTWG for 200 Federal Public Insitutions have been trained and another batch of 200 is to be trained this year-2022.

“We in NITDA have supported so many FPIs in terms of tools and training, we are already collaborating and will always be willing to partner with stakeholders to support our economic diversification and sustainability plan for the country”.

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

The Manager, ITIS Department, NITDA, Chinyere Nwankwo, who gave an overview of the Capacity Building Programme made it known that the participants are staff drawn from forty MDAs, Military and Paramilitary who were nominated by their various organizations.

She further explained that the training is structured to be delivered in two batches (Virtual & In-person) with 20 organizations in each.

“Upskilling the 200 participating members of staff will help Nigeria to catch up with the rest of the world in the area of digitization, job creation, technology adaptation and deployment in the work place”.

Mrs. Nwankwo expressed the hope that the first batch which has a number of 100 participants as with the subsequent batch will seize the opportunity to effectively learn and afterwards utilize the knowledge gained to achieve the sole aim of the initiative.

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TECHDIGEST – The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has inaugurated a 14-man enforcement committee to monitor the implementation of the National Second Level Domain Policy across all ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) whether at state or federal level.

In line with the Muhammadu Buhari administration’s drive towards economic diversification and commitment to the development of a robust digital economy, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved the National Second Level Domain Policy on February 16, 2022, making the Nigerian Second-Level Domain mandatory for all government-owned websites and official email correspondence of all government personnel. The National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA, is the implementing agency of the new policy. NITDA is mandated by its enabling (NITDA Act, 2007) of Second Schedule Section 6(m) to manage and administer Nigeria’s ccTLD (.ng).

READ ALSO: NITDA’s ONDI Organises Capacity Training Programme For Startups

This power gives NITDA the authority to allocate and administer the Nigerian Government Second-Level domains on .gov.ng; .edu.ng; .mil.ng; .sch.ng and any other second-level domain name that may be approved in the future. Following the approval of the policy, NITDA has inaugurated a 14-man enforcement committee to monitor its implementation.

The new policy is expected to drastically enhance public confidence in the authenticity and security of information and other services accessed from government-owned websites.

The Federal Government’s desire through the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy is to move all its information and services online on the Nigerian Government Second-Level domains. The online presence of the Nigerian government in her identity is a strategy for dominance in the digital economy. The use of generic domains and private emails for Government businesses and correspondences impedes the Nigerian government’s identity, security, and global recognition on the internet.

Ninety-nine per cent of MDAs are confirmed to have made the transition to the .ng domain at the federal level, and they have maintained compliance with the Nigeria ccTLD scheme. Unfortunately, it is not the same at the state and local government levels, where 80% of administration websites and mail addresses lack the .ng validation.

“We advise that MDAs at all levels should stop using domains from the internet providers or mail providers. NITDA is working with the relevant organizations to ensure that all government institutions have access to dedicated domain names. We are also asking the service providers to support this initiative by ascertaining that any government domain to be registered by them conforms to this directive to ensure the general adoption of .ng.”

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TECHDIGEST – A youth led coalition of civil society group, the Youth and Civil Society Coalition for Development (YCSCD) has cautioned the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU)over it’s threat to withdraw degree certificate of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA)’s Boss, Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi.

In a statement signed by it’s National President, Comrade Aminu Aminu which was made available to newsmen, the group said ASUU was threatening the DG for simply discharging his statutory duties.

READ ALSO : ASUU Threatens To Withdraw NITDA Boss Degree Certificate

According to YCSCD, even although the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has developed its parallel payment platform to the nationally accepted Integrated Payroll and Personel Information System (IPPIS) the University’s Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS), it should be humbled to accept in good faith NITDA’s constructive criticism and collaborate with the agency to make the platform more effective and enable it stand the test of time and world dynamics.

“ASUU cannot claim ignorance of the fact that, NITDA has acted on the mandates bestowed on it by its establishing act which requires it to create a framework for the planning, research,development, standardization, application, coordination, monitoring, evaluation and regulation of Information Technology practices in Nigeria,” the group argued.

It said far from ASUU’s claim that NITDA is working to frustrate the operability of its newly developed payment platform UTAS, it is not news to enlightened Nigerians that NITDA has over the years issued several regulatory instruments which include software testing and quality assurance framework as well as guidelines for the design,development and testing of software projects in the country.

“On this note, it is counterproductive for an academic Bloc like ASUU to resort to threat instead of finding a workable solution to address the issues raised by NITDA’s integrity test results on UTAS

“ASUU’S reaction to the professorial title awarded to the minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, by the Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO), and the present one trailing the UTAS’ failure to meet the NITDA’S vulnerability test, user acceptance test and stress load test leading to the issuance of threat to withdraw Malam Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi’s degree certificate by the ATBU branch of the ASUU, could amount to witch-hunting of its own successful products as both are alumni’s of the University.

YCSCD called on ASUU to channel the same energy it is using to issues degree withdrawal threats, to explore workable solutions bedevilleing the country especially the lingering insecurity, youth restiveness and ongoing strike action.

It vowed that no amount of threat can deter the DG NITDA from doing the right thing as far as the discharge of his mandate is concerned.

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TECHDIGEST  – The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami), has commended all the agencies in the communications and digital economy sector for being dedicated to the implementation of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) 2020-2030, and urged them to work collaboratively and co-ordinately in order to achieve the Federal Government’s strategic objectives as articulated in NDEPS.

Pantami stated this at a retreat organised by Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy (FMoCDE) for senior management staff of the Ministry and all its agencies which commenced on March 31, 2022.

The retreat was convened to evaluate the implementation of NDEPS in the context of what has been achieved, what needs to be achieved, and what processes should be emplaced to enhance the capacity of the Ministry and Agencies it superintends to mobilise all stakeholders to accomplish the objectives of NDEPS.

The retreat took place at the Nigerian Army Officers Wives’ Association (NAOWA) Centre at Mambilla Barracks, Abuja.

Citing the most recent report of the World Economic Forum (WEF), the Minister in his keynote and opening address told the forum that synergy among stakeholders in terms of co-operative posture, collaboration, coordination, deployment of social skills such as good listening skills, critical and analytical thinking, emotional intelligence, as well as project management and quality assurance skills, are central to organisational effectiveness, successes and the future of work, as projected by WEF.

Pantami then urged all the agencies and their staff to challenge themselves to do more rather than think of themselves as competitors.

Also speaking at the retreat, Prof. Umar Danbatta, the Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (EVC/CEO) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), asserted that the NCC has acted superlatively in implementing NDEPS and in the context of the vision of Federal Government and the supervision of the Ministry. Danbatta who made clearly methodical presentation that chronologically documented NCC accomplishments under each of the eight (8) pillars of NDEPS, cited 10 of the 16 regulations that have been instituted in giving expression to Governments vision on developmental regulation, which is the first pillar of NDEPS.

These regulations were focused on Enforcement Processes, Lawful Interception, Quality of Service, Competition Practices, Licensing Regulations, and Universal Access and Universal Service among others.

Danbatta promised to also complete the review of the remaining soonest and activate their implementation. Danbatta, who used a triangulation method in contextualising the achievement of NCC under the first pillar, itemised the guidelines, regulations and policy development initiatives to discharge the burden of proof of NCC’s effectiveness in the regulation of ICT and digital economy sector through approaches that enabled development.

In implementing Digital Literacy and Skills, the second pillar, Danbatta also stated in his clearly explanatory presentation, that the Digital Bridge Institute (DBI), set up by NCC in 2004, had trained 5,352 students through 49 institutions, provided educational training software to 398 secondary schools, and endowed 7 professorial chairs in various Nigerian universities across all the geopolitical zones.

On Solid Infrastructure, the third pillar of NDEPS, Danbatta stated that broadband penetration as at December 2021 was 40.88 percent, thus enabling 80 million Nigerians to have access to broadband services.

To reinforce the intensity of NCC’s commitment to improving broadband penetration, the EVC declared to the forum that NCC has emplaced a process for the deployment of optic fibre cable using Infrastructure Companies (Infracos).
Danbatta was emphatic that the licensed Infracos have been directed by the Commission to commence immediate roll out without recourse to counterpart funding because the licence issued to them is independent of the counterpart funding agreement.

The Infracos are expected to lay 38,296Km of fibre optic cable. Also, in keeping with Government’s directive through a Federal Executive Council decision of 2005, NCC has constructed 32 Emergency Communication Centres (EECs) in various states, and 32 of those have been activated and are operational. Prof. Danbatta also documented copiously in his presentation, Commission’s achievement in the other five pillar areas.

Dr. Armstrong Takang, an innovative and technology-for-development specialist, who presented the lead paper as guest speaker, praised the Federal Government for concretely aligning ICT, and digital economy with national economic imperatives. Additionally, he commended NCC for driving the necessary infrastructure purposely and strategically, and for its effectiveness in regulating the telecom sector.

Takang, citing Lagos State and the Federal Capital Territory Administration as good models, Takang emphasised the correlates of adoption of technology or automation in economic growth and effective governance, crediting technology for improved internally-generated revenue in Lagos State.

Takang recommended that Nigeria must link technology to specific programmes that are impacting and sustainable.

He also asserted that Nigeria needs to undertake pilots for projects that are planned for implementation and utilise the results of the pilots to scale up and for budgeting.

Takang also bemoaned the human capital challenge in the ICT sector in Nigeria, insisting that at least 500,000 software engineers are required to redirect efforts for effectiveness of policy.

The Director overseeing the Office of the Permanent Secretary in FMoCDE, Engr. Abubakar Ladan, and the following CEOs of the other agencies in the Ministry also made presentations on their efforts and activities towards accomplishing the objectives of NDEPS: Mr. Ayuba Shuaibu, Acting Executive Secretary, Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF); Dr. Abimbola Alale, Managing Director of Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited (NIGCOMSAT), represented by Engr. Abdulrahman Adajah; Engr. Aliyu Aziz, Director General, National Identity Management Commission (NIMC); Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, Director General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA); Prof. Muhammed Abubakar, Managing Director, Galaxy Backbone Plc; Dr. Adebayo Adewusi, Postmaster General of the Federation and Managing Director, Nigeria Postal Services (NIPOST); and Dr. Vincent Olatunji, National Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer, Nigeria Data Protection Bureau (NDPB). All the agencies and the Ministry were well represented at the retreat by at least 6 officers in the directorate cadre.

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TECHDIGEST – In addition to its primary function, which is to develop and regulate Information Technology (IT) in Nigeria, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) Act, signed into law in 2007 according to Section 6 also mandates the Agency to serve as a clearing house for all IT procurement and services in the public sector.

Giving credence to the enactment of the Act, the Federal Government had on the 18th of April 2006, issued a Circular with number SGF/6/S.19/T/65, directing all Federal Public Institutions (FPIs) that are planning to embark on any IT project to obtain clearance from NITDA.

READ ALSO : NITDA Clears 258 ICT Projects, Saves N24bn for Govt in 2021- Prof Pantami

By way of reinforcing the Clearing House mandate of NITDA, the Federal Government again on 31st August, 2018, issued another Circular with number 59736/S.2/C.II/125, reiterating the need for all FPIS and other Government establishments to relate with and obtain prior approval from NITDA for the implementation of their IT Projects.

The executive directives signaled a remarkable milestone for the Agency as it turned around the prospects of the Nation’s investments in IT positively and shone the torch on duplicated projects that hitherto remained vague as well as guaranteed the creation and sustainability of indigenous capacity for after-sales-services.

Over the years, significant and unprecedented milestones have been achieved by the IT Projects Clearance (ITPC) Committee under the supervision of the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy with Prof. Isa Ali Pantami championing the course.

From the Memo presented by the Minister during Wednesday’s Federal Executive Council Meeting, Prof. Pantami recounted the achievements of the Committee in 2021 which included a total of 282 new IT applications for clearance, out of which 258 projects were successfully cleared and a total cumulative savings of ₦24,403,266,842.86, estimated at 343.2% increase in amount saved for the Federal Government compared to 2020 and an unprecedented 89.7% increase in the number of cleared projects compared to what was achieved in 2020 where 136 IT Projects were cleared.

Moreso, there was also a significant increase in the use of the IT Clearance Portal in the year 2021; with a total of 248 new users from 52 Federal Public Institutions (FPIs) registered on the portal.

Meanwhile, cheering news emerged from the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting on March 9, 2022 as approval was given for the Implementation of Strategies for the Enhancement of the Quality of Government Digital Technology Projects and Services.

According to the Minister, the approval will enable the implementation of strategies for the enforcement of the IT Project Clearance by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), in accordance with the NITDA Act (2007).

“IT Projects are the backbone for effective e-Government development, their implementation facilitate transparency, efficiency, productivity, participation, inclusiveness, cost savings, and competitive advantage. These factors ultimately translate into social and economic development for any country. Therefore, in our drive towards the Digital Economy, effective implementation of these Projects is therefore no longer a choice but a must”.

To build on the successes achieved in 2021, the Agency, through the IT Projects Clearance (ITPC) Committee plans to achieve at least 10% increase in compliance by Federal Public Institutions (FPIs) through awareness and strengthening of the ITPC process.

Apart from looking forward to improving the functionality of the ITPC portal in order to increase transparency, accountability, and ease of submission of projects, the Agency is determined to collaborate with more relevant FPIS in strengthening compliance.

With the Council’s backing and approvals of key prayers captured in the Memo; NITDA under the supervision of the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy has taken its quest of going the extra mile in achieving it’s Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan (SRAP- 2021-2024) in line with the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) for a Digital Nigeria a notch higher.

Read more : Tech economy.ng

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TECHDIGEST – The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), through its subsidiary, the National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, and in partnership with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), is set to launch iHatch startup incubation programme.

The Agency’s Head of Corporate Affairs and External Relations, Mrs. Hadiza Umar said in a statement on Thursday, that the startup incubation programme is aimed at increasing the number of Innovation-Driven Enterprises (IDEs) by Nigerian youths.

iHatch is a 5-month free intensive incubation program designed to help Nigerian entrepreneurs perfect their business ideas through a series of coaching, lectures, and boot camps, to generate viable and scalable business models.

The statement said that the iHatch incubation programme with focus on youth, innovation, entrepreneurship, and technology will provide an excellent opportunity for startups that have innovative business ideas along with a prototype of their products or services.

Participating startups will receive free offline and online interactive training from experienced coaches and mentors from over the world, investment opportunities and free co-working space for the duration of the programme.

“iHatch seeks to establish a programme that will accelerate the process of taking ideas to impact, hence providing the much-needed jobs for our teeming youths, and also nurturing that entrepreneurial spirit in them, which will catalyses the Nigerian digital economy to the next level,” said Malam Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, the Director-General/CEO of NITDA.

The statement added that detail information about iHatch is available at NCAIR websitehttps://www.ncair.nitda.gov.ng

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