In the advent of the country’s digital transformation and to further foster collaborations with key players in the technological innovation ecosystem, Mallam Kashifu Inuwa, the Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), has admonished local developers to key into the Agency’s Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan for an accelerated economic impact.
Inuwa made this call at the DevFest 2021, an event organized by the Lagos chapter of the Google Developer Groups at the Landmark Event Centre, Lagos State.
The DevFest, an annual event brings developers, tech-companies, and awesome speakers together to discuss Google’s emerging technologies such as Google Cloud Platform, Artificial Intelligence, Quantum Computing, Blockchain Technology, Machine Learning and Robotics.
The DG who was represented at the event by Mr Yakubu Musa, the Acting Head of the Agency’s subsidiary Office for Nigerian Digital Innovation (ONDI), expressed his pleasure to have been invited to the DevFest event while describing the participants as forward-thinking developers and technology professionals.
“NITDA’s participation here today at the Africa’s largest developer community event is exciting and presents an ample opportunity to build on our initiatives to support the development of thriving ecosystem that will contribute to the growth of our Digital Economy”, the DG averred.
Inuwa who expressed his excitement at seeing and relating with the young but zealous participants stated that the young demography constitutes the highest percentage of the workforce in the country and their participation was reassuring that Nigeria is gunning to significantly impact technological advancements.
The DG after highlighting the seven strategic pillars of the Agency’s SRAP stated that the pillars required extensive collaborations for its full implementation and actualization.
He further disclosed that the SRAP has been tailored to proactively facilitate the transformation of the country into a sustainable Digital Economy but required an elaborate stakeholder collaboration in the implementation of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) for a Digital Nigeria.
Inuwa added that developers globally are the backbone of any technology industry and therefore urged the participants to key into the SRAP to fully exploit all the potentials of their creative idea.
“Our understanding is that a highly skilled workforce motivated by a clear developmental vision and working with various stakeholders on properly aligned initiatives and processes, would be more likely to deliver on the mission and mandate of the Agency in line with the dictates of a digital economy”, the DG concluded.
Other speakers at the event include Adia Sowho, the Chief Marketing Officer of MTN; Mr Aniedi Udo-Obong, the Google Program Manager, Developer Ecosystem for Sub-saharan Africa; Mr Oswald Osaretin, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Digital Transformation; Mr Tunbosun Alake, the Special Adviser to the Lagos Government on Technology, and many others.