The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has said Nigeria is in the process of realising its goal of digital economy, where the country will generate more revenue from Information Communication Technology (ICT) than crude oil.
The Director-General of the agency, Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, stated this in Kaduna at a one-day stakeholders’ engagement meeting organised by the agency, to create understanding between it and its stakeholders, in pursuit of digitisation and entrepreneurial evolution of Nigeria.
Speaking with journalists after the meeting tagged ‘Creating Opportunities, Breaking Boundaries: Towards Digitisation and Entrepreneurial Evolution’, the Director-General of NITDA, who was represented by the agency’s Director of Zonal Offices Directorate, Babajide Ajayi, said, “We are engaging the vast stakeholders because we want to get to the level of the advanced countries, where we can generate more revenue from tapping into ICT than crude oil.”
According to him, “We are in the process of realising our dream of a booming digital economy. You can see that our ministry’s name was changed from communication to communication and digital economy. It is not just for the sake of changing name, but to ensure we achieve all forms of digitisation in this country.
“In addition to that, there is a policy document that has been developed at NITDA headquarters called STRAP 2021-2024, that is our strategic roadmap and action plan.
“The document will serve as the guide to the agency in the mandate of digitisation in Nigeria.”
The NITDA boss added that the agency deemed it necessary that it collaborates more with its stakeholders to bring the development strides at the national level to the state and local government levels.