By Balarabe Oshiafi
The need for agencies of government to necessarily reach an accord on cooperation and collaboration to drive the “approximately 40 million small businesses spread across Nigeria and that are responsible for 50 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 70 million jobs” has again been driven home by the Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa.
According to a release made available to Expressday, Inuwa made this known while receiving the Director General of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Charles Odii, in his office in Abuja at the weekend.
“The purpose of the visit was to seek partnership in terms of infrastructural and human capital development for SMEs in Nigeria. To also submit a memorandum of understanding (MoU) where both Agencies can align and invite DG NITDA to SMEDAN for further discussions”, NITDA disclosed.
Inuwa revealed that there were opportunities for collaboration between NITDA and SMEDAN as stated in the NITDA Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan (SRAP 2.0) like the first pillar which is to foster Digital Literacy and cultivate talents. He said the collaboration will facilitate the penetration of digital literacy among Small and Medium Entreprise (SMEs) to enhance productivity.
He added that it also aligns with the objective of the National Digital Literacy Framework (NDLF).
“We all know that with digital literacy a market woman can sell her goods without moving from one place to another, as someone can use digital platforms to order for goods and have them delivered to them.”
The NITDA DG stated that the collaboration is apt as it will strengthen policy implementation and legal frameworks like the Nigerian Startup Act.
He said SMEs make up about 90 percent of the country’s workforce and more than 90 percent of businesses, saying “We really want to work with you, to explore how we can get them (SMEs) to benefit from all the incentives within the Startup Act and we target those who use innovation to promote productivity or innovation-driven entreprises.”
Inuwa citing ISF said that there are more than 100 IT hubs in Nigeria and less than 50 percent of these centres are being utilised. He revealed that both Agencies can utilize these IT hubs as infrastructure for the unserved and underserved areas, which aligns with a pillar of the SRAP 2.0 which is to promote inclusive access to digital infrastructure and services.
“We can come together and decide a benchmark on what an IT hub should look like so that it can properly serve the people.”
On strengthening cybersecurity and digital trust he said “We need to look at how we can come up with cybersecurity solutions for SMEs that will promote digital trust by having SMEs that provide affordable and indigenous cybersecurity services.
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