The director-general, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Mallam Kashifu Abdullahi, has highlighted some of the adaptation strategies created by the Federal Government to create and stimulate the ecosystem for blockchain technology and Nigerian innovators to thrive.
Speaking during the 2022 Blockchain Developers’ Summit held in Abuja, Abdullahi reiterated the agency’s stance on emerging technologies.
While speaking on “Blockchain Technology Supports Digital Transformation and will facilitate the Development of Nigeria into a Digital Economy” to 1500-plus participants, the NITDA boss enumerated the multiple benefits and prospects of the technology, as he highlighted ‘trust’ as one of the critical components of a blockchain.
“There are a lot of opportunities in blockchain and trust is critical in every business.
“Talent is the human component of technology. When you talk about any innovations, especially blockchain and emerging technologies, it is about the new solutions one is bringing onboard; so, you need to ask yourself to know which solutions or offerings the industry requires,” he advised.
Abdullahi said anybody can be an innovator or entrepreneur, irrespective of their academic standing, religion and ethnic group, as innovative ideas cannot be monopolized. He said the time had come for Nigerian youths to leverage the growing digital sector to tackle the myriad of challenges facing the nation presently.
“Innovation is beyond invention. It needs to get to the point of commercialisation. Until you can pitch your idea to someone to pay for your solutions, the innovation would sadly only be just an idea. So, we are building an ecosystem that will enable you to hatch your ideas from conception to realisation”, the DG said.
The NITDA boss also emphasised the need for the participants to get venture capitalists to invest in their innovative ideas.
He further noted that, although President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration exhibited a strong political will to continually make the right policies and create an enabling environment for technology innovation ecosystem to succeed, the Federal Government cannot, however, possibly give out grants or seed funds to everyone at the same time; hence, the need for them to engage with both local and international investors.
Abdullahi recalled that in 2019, President Buhari renamed and expanded the mandate of the ministry to include the digital economy which has necessitated the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy to create value, wealth and prosperity via the digital economy.
The DG again recalled that, in the same year, the president unveiled the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) for a digital Nigeria which was formulated by the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Pantami.
The policy, he said, has eight pillars, one of which is digital society and emerging technologies; a related subject matter. “All parastatals under the ministry, including NITDA, have keyed into implementing the policy,” Abdullahi maintained.
On the part of NITDA, the director-general seized the opportunity to enlighten the crowd that the agency had developed a Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan (SRAP) in line with the policy, which has seven pillars. He said three of them – digital transformation, digital innovation and entrepreneurship and emerging technologies – were directly addressed by the theme of the summit.
“We have so many initiatives. Under innovation and entrepreneurship, we established the National Centre for Artificial intelligence and Robotics (NCAIR). The Office of the Nigerian Digital Innovation which works with the ecosystem to help come up with policies that will enable you to thrive in what you do,” the DG recounted.
Also, the DG mentioned other initiatives, including iHatch, digital fabrication lab, TIE (technology, innovation and entrepreneurship) support scheme which he said identifies people with promising ideas and places them in IT hubs across the country for training as well as help turn their ideas into realities.
“We developed the blockchain adoption strategy basically to help stimulate the adoption of blockchain in the country and we have identified six initiatives we are going to implement to achieve that. First is the establishment of the Nigerian Blockchain Consortium which this summit is helping to do. Second, is strengthening developmental regulation and law, finding focus areas, promoting literacy and blockchain, digital innovation incentivisation and the Start-up Bill which has passed through the third reading in the National Assembly,” Abdullahi added.
The NITDA boss charged the NYSC members to take advantage of the opportunity and start a business before the end of their service year and, possibly, always ensure to be among the first movers in digitally-related endeavours.
He expressed the hope that participants at the summit, themed “Stimulating Blockchain Adoption in Nigeria”, organised by BSV-Blockchain, Baze University, and powered by NITDA would make relevant contributions to the adoption strategies which he said is dynamic and open to new ideas.
