By Balarabe Oshiafi
The Director-General (DG) of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa, has called on global investors to explore Nigeria’s burgeoning digital economy, describing Nigeria as a land of opportunity powered by a youthful, tech-savvy, and highly innovative population.
The DG made this known during an interaction with global key players in the IT sector, including startups and investors during a GITEX Breakfast meeting at the GITEX Africa 2025 which is currently being held in Marrakech, Morocco.
Speaking ahead of GITEX Nigeria 2025, a major technology and investment conference set to take place from September 1 to 4 in Abuja and Lagos, Inuwa painted a vivid picture of Nigeria’s digital landscape where “innovation meets opportunity”, and where “government commitment aligns with grassroots entrepreneurial drive.
“Nigeria is a country with a large, youthful, innovative, creative, and highly competent workforce, where startups and scale-ups can continuously thrive, and where entrepreneurial spirit and technological advancement shape and create the landscape,” he stated.
He emphasised that Nigeria, with over 70% of its population under the age of 25, holds one of the youngest populations globally, positioning it as a talent hub for the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
The NITDA boss further noted that the government’s vision aims to elevate Nigeria into an emerging global digital economy through comprehensive reforms, infrastructure investment, and an aggressive digital literacy agenda.
“The president is also bullish about building our digital infrastructure and wants to establish our digital sovereignty, providing a platform for our citizens to develop digital offerings that Nigeria can take to the world,” he said.
While outlining initiatives aimed at embedding digital skills across the formal education system and enhancing national digital capabilities, he noted that the nation is not just teaching young people to consume technology but empowering them to create it.
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Recognising the importance of digital sovereignty, Inuwa added “We are also promoting cloud adoption because you cannot succeed today with on-prem infrastructure, but you need to be on the cloud, and you need to have agility.”
Underscoring the significance of Nigeria and Africa’s digital native population and boundless talent, Inuwa mentioned that the continent should not just participate in the Fourth Industrial Revolution but should lead.
He disclosed that the GITEX Nigeria conference is set to be a milestone moment with Abuja which is the nation’s policy capital, hosting discussions on investor-friendly reforms and policy frameworks, and Lagos, the home to Africa’s most vibrant startup ecosystem, showcasing the energy, innovation, and investment potentials.
“We have the talent and we have the digital native population and we are nurturing an innovative and entrepreneurial ecosystem because we need to challenge the status quo, we need to use technology to disrupt the way we do things and we need to create a collective intelligence where people work with technology to make lives better and that is the Nigeria we are creating,” he concluded.
