By Balarabe Oshiafi
The Director General, National Information Technology Development Agency, (NITDA) Kashifu Inuwa, CCIE has predicted that the Nigeria’s digital transformation future would be “brighter and also offers hope of being prosperous.”
The NITDA’s boss expressed this optimism in Lagos while delivering his keynote address titled “Implementing a National Digital Transformation Agenda” at the ongoing Global Tech Africa 2023 with the theme “Facilitating Investments in Africa’s Digital Economy.
The conference which provides platform to bring together African and international stakeholders in technology to unlock growth opportunities for all, and build the tech ecosystem in Africa was put together by Ascend Studio Foundation and in partnership with NITDA, the U.S. Consulate, Venture Garden Group, Business Sweden, and RivExcel Health.
Inuwa disclosed that Nigeria’s greatest resource to which he hinges his prediction on, is Nigeria’s abundant human capital which remains her greatest resource. He noted that many global reports have predicted that there would be global talent crunch by 2030 that could affect the future of work but which Nigeria can explore to reimagining herself to become global talent factory.
He said “it is evident that Nigeria is not just positioned to be the global talent factory, but we are also set for investment and global collaboration because all developed countries will suffer from that deficit, including the United States of America. But Nigeria, we have one of the youngest populations in the world.
“We have the largest population in Africa; the largest economy; we have the market, and we have the youth, and we have natural talent. So, if we position ourselves, we can bridge that global talent deficit, and we can benefit from the 8.5 trillion USD digital transformation global Gross Domestic Product, (GDP).”
According to Inuwa, Nigeria’s focus is beyond digital economy but the attainment of national digital transformation because of pervasive nature of digital technology and its capacity to transform any industry power by digital technology. He emphasised that for the nation to benefit from this, “we need to position ourselves and design the economy to reap the benefit of digital transformation.”
He said President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has mandated the Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy to accelerate the nation’s economy by diversifying it in a way that would enhance productivity across all sector through digital innovation.
“Our mandate is not just about digital economy but transformation of the digital space and how we can empower and enhance productivity across all sector,” he noted.
