The director-general of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Mallam Kashifu Abdullahi has revealed that plans are underway for the flag-off of the Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Support Scheme (TIES) to provide opportunity and build the capacity of both hub managers and technology startups.
During a webinar session with TIES members and stakeholders, he explained that the idea was conceptualised during the COVID-19 pandemic to assist industry partners who have established IT hubs to upskill their hubs and help with their businesses.
Abdullahi said the status of many economies is struggling to survive because of the pandemic, thereby making it apparent that embracing the new normal of encouraging the development of emerging technologies to strengthen the economy is the way forward.
According to him, the initiative will be used as a platform to invest in creative people who can create jobs for themselves and others and would enable partners to turn their ideas into reality in a form of products and services.
“NITDA, as a Federal Government agency, was established to, among others, develop and regulate information technology (IT) in Nigeria and is assiduously working to develop the innovation process through the creation of enabling platforms and opportunities propelling creative ideas from inception to actualisation, resulting into impact in the society.
“As an agency, we noticed that most of the young talented people who have ideas lack mentorship. Innovative solutions are needed to tackle the problems in the country which NITDA is helping by creating the avenue that would provide a balance between the innovators and the markets,” he stated.
He further said that to accelerate the prosperity of the country, NITDA is working on delivering the target of achieving 95 per cent digital literacy by the year 2030 which is possible if the agency and its partners work together.
The NITDA boss explained that the target could be achieved by engaging two perspectives, these are; getting people to understand and use technology and digital services, and building capacity in other to establish digital services locally.
“There is a target to train 1 million developers in the next 18 months, and we will be looking forward to getting better ideas from you on how to deliver this initiative because as a government agency we believe the only way to achieve success is to work together and establish stronger partnerships between ourselves,” he added.
