WPRF: Recognising NITDA’s Social Media Code in India

WPRF: Recognising NITDA’s Social Media Code in India
By Abbas Badmus

The World Public Relations Forum 2023 (WPRF), the flagship global conference hosted by the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communications Management (Global Alliance) takes place in Chennai, India.

Global Alliance is the confederation of the world’s major PR and communication management associations and institutions, representing practitioners and academics around the world. Its mission is to unify the public relations profession, raise professional standards all over the world, share knowledge for the benefit of its members and be the global voice for public relations in the public interest.

Justin Green, President & CEO of Global Alliance says, “World Public Relations Forum has been an open and diverse platform for public relations and communications practitioners from across the globe to meet, discuss, reflect and advance the profession.

The theme for the WPRF which is “Building Goodwill for Greater Good,” provides high-value learning, global speakers, and networking opportunities for delegates from around the world in inspiring sessions.

The event also features the World Public Relations & Communication Awards, a global competition meant to celebrate the most outstanding national and international public relations and communication management programmes and case studies.

Nigeria’s National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) is shortlisted as a finalist in the award under Ethics, Integrity & Compliance Category. The award recognises excellence in campaigns that demonstrate the highest levels of strategic planning, creativity and business results in the organisation’s relationship with its stakeholders.

NITDA had earlier won the African SABRE PR award for the same campaign in Zambia and was shortlisted as a Finalist of the Golden World Award by the International Public Relations Association (IPRA) in Barcelona, Spain.

The tech agency executed the PR campaign in collaboration with the multi-award-winning Image Merchants Promotion Limited (IMPR), the publishers of PRNigeria, Economic Confidential, Spokesperson’s Digest, Tech Digest and other titles.

The regulatory agency in charge of information technology in Nigeria was recognised for using mainstream and social media platforms to counter criticisms and misconceptions after social critics and the public raised concerns that its “Draft Code Of Practice for Social Media and Online Platforms” was an attempt to gag the media and restrict freedom of press and expression.

During the period of Twitter’s suspension in Nigeria Inuwa led the technical team had a robust engagement which spurred global digital diplomacy and set a new template for the operation of big tech companies in Nigeria and other developing countries.

The era of Nigeria holding the short end of the stick therefore came to an end as the country negotiated from a position of strength and made Twitter abide by certain rules that were meant to protect national interest.

Using effective PR tools in providing concrete facts highlighting the benefits of the code, the stakeholders and the public were adequately enlightened and eventually welcomed the guidelines.

Some of the gains of the campaign include a shift in the perspective of critics, increased stakeholders’ engagement, dousing of tension, activation of crisis team and endorsements by stakeholders and tech giants.

The awareness campaign commenced in June 2022 after NITDA unveiled a Code of Practice for Interactive Computer Service Platforms/Internet Intermediaries (online platforms) it developed in collaboration with relevant regulatory agencies and stakeholders.

The Code of Practice was aimed at protecting the fundamental human rights of Nigerians and non-Nigerians living in the country, as well as defining guidelines for interacting in the digital ecosystem. This is in line with international best practices as obtainable in democratic nations such as the United States, United Kingdom, European Union and United Nations.

The document was developed in collaboration with Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) in addition to inputs from Interactive Computer Service Platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Google, Tik Tok, among others.

Other relevant stakeholders, including Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and expert groups, were also consulted. The results were duly incorporated into the Draft Code of Practice.

The Code of Practice sets out procedures to safeguard the security and welfare of Nigerians while interacting on these platforms. It equally aims to demand accountability from online platforms regarding unlawful and harmful content.

Furthermore, it establishes a robust framework for collaborative efforts to protect Nigerians against online harms such as hate speech, cyber-bullying, as well as disinformation and/or misinformation.

The global PR event is coming a week after the Director-General of NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa, met M.M. Tripathi, the Director-General of India’s National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT) and paid a working visit to the headquarters of the National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Nigeria.

Inuwa who represented Nigeria’s Minister of Communications, innovation, and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, underscored the importance of leveraging India’s vast expertise in digital technologies to bolster Nigeria’s digital economy. The meetings were aimed at fostering a deeper understanding of the Indian digital economy and exploring avenues for knowledge sharing and collaboration. The discussions covered topics ranging from digital skills development to cyber security and innovation.

Apart from the Social Media Code, the implementation of the 64 strategic initiatives of the Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan (SRAP) which Inuwa launched a few years ago has significantly contributed to the impact of ICT on the economy, making Nigeria the leading destination for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Africa and attracting about US$3.8billion which constitutes about 35% of all FDI into African startups from 2019.

The NITDA’s TECH4COVID initiative led to the retention of over 100,000 ICT jobs and created an additional 30,000 jobs in the post-COVID-19 era while the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR) compliance drive created 7,680 jobs and a market valued at ₦1.2 billion.

The implementation of the agency’s National Adopted Village for Smart Agriculture (NAVSA) initiative has thus far engaged nine hundred (900) farmers and created over five thousand (5,000) direct and indirect jobs. The initiative targets the engagement of ten (10) million farmers across the agricultural value chain by 2030.

Similarly, to promote emerging technologies in Nigeria, NITDA under Inuwa established the National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (NCAIR). The NCAIR has trained 1,250 youths across Nigeria on high-end cutting-edge technologies.

The Office for Nigerian Digital Innovation (ONDI) was also created as a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to help incubate ideas and develop an enabling environment for startups to thrive. Through the ONDI, the Agency supported over 200 startups with grants and seed funding.

More than 100 startups were sponsored to attend GITEX global event, LEAP Tech Conference, Intra-African Trade Fair, and several other local events. In addition, they benefitted from the capacity-building programmes of Bridge to MassChallenge (B2MC), iHatch Incubation, Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Support (TIES) and the North-East Start-up Training (NEST).

In terms of digital talent development, Inuwa’s NITDA has committed to the conduct of an IT Talent Gap Assessment among Nigeria’s youth population for tech talent acceleration and to position Nigeria as a global IT Talent Factory. In line with the FG’s initiative on social investment, the Agency launched the one (1) million software developer initiative and various multi-sectorial capacity-building programmes to promote digital literacy, where over one million Nigerians have so far been trained.

Other NITDA achievements under Inuwa include the Design and implementation of IT Clearance for government MDAs which has cleared 866 projects from 336 Federal Public Institutions (FPIs), saving the government ₦305.96 billion from 2019 till date; completion of ISO 27001:2013 Certification for NITDA, the first government organisation in the country to have attained it; the launching of the National Adopted School for Smart Education (NASSE) to promote digital literacy and skills.

There is no doubting the fact that NITDA under the competent watch of Inuwa has completely changed the information technology landscape in the country and the impact is felt even by the international community. That explains the numerous awards and nominations that Inuwa has attracted to the country. The award s and nominations across Africa and beyond will keep coming as Inuwa has repeatedly said he is not resting on his oars. He has more grounds to break and more landmarks to achieve that will keep Nigeria on the global map of reckoning for good.

There is no doubting the fact that ICT is the future of the kind of robust economy we want to build. NITDA as the lead agency championing Nigeria’s digital economy drive will continue to record remarkable achievements in the ecosystem. From all indications, the campaign manifesto of President Bola Tinubu to create one million digital jobs for Nigerians in the first two years of his administration, with the young and charismatic Bosun Tijani as the supervisory Minister overseeing Communication Innovation and Digital Economy, is surely attainable. Nigeria hopes that borrowing from India’s playbook will help achieve this goal.

Abbas Badmus, a Staff Writer with Tech Digest writes from Abuja