NITDA committed to life-transforming opportunities for girls, women in Nigeria: Inuwa

*Kashifu Inuwa, CCIE, Director-General of National Information Technology Development Agency, restates the commitment of the regulatory agency to creating and sustaining life-transforming opportunities for girl-child and women in the country

Gbenga Kayode | ConsumerConnect

Kashifu Inuwa, CCIE, Director-General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), has reiterated the commitment of the Information Technology (IT) regulatory agency to creating and sustaining life-transforming opportunities for girl-child and women in the country.

Represented by Mrs. Iklima Musa Salihu, Special Assistant on Strategy and Innovation, Inuwa stated this while delivering a goodwill message at the National Technical Working Group Meeting on ‘Coordination of Service Providers to Eliminate Violence Against Women and Girls in States’ organised by the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, in Abuja, FCT.

The Director-General also said: “NITDA bears the responsibility of encouraging innovation, and has created several initiatives.

“The agency is committed to creating life-transforming opportunities for girls and women by taking the necessary steps to maximise their potential.”

According to him, this is being accomplished through the NITDA Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan 2021 to 2024.

The agency further disclosed the essence of the one-day meeting was to support a comprehensive and coordinated approach to addressing violence against women, including prevention, protection, care, and support that will contribute to a shared vision and integrated strategy among stakeholders through a survival-centered and right-space approach.

Inuwa asserted one of the key achievements of NITDA is the issuance of the Code of Practice for Interactive Online Platforms, which set out measures to combat online harm and the interest of Nigerian consumers in the digital ecosystem.

The Agency has been collaborating with several bodies such as the World Bank where several trainings were executed on digital innovation, entrepreneurship, digital marketing, and many more, said he.

Inuwa noted: “We  have trained over 560 women and still counting. We have also been running several programmes such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Regional Entrepreneurship Acceleration Program (MIT-REAP), that has helped to inculcate entrepreneurship within the regions.

“Other programmes that we have are; the ihatch programmes, the Technology Innovation, Entrepreneurship Support, Skill programmes, (TIES), and many others.

“All these programmes are meant to support young people and women to thrive within the digital sector.”

He stressed, “however, we risk losing their invaluable contributions to the threat of unsafe online environment.

“In light of this, I want to encourage us to take the opportunity to encourage our wholehearted participation at this gathering and to emphasise the act of violence against women and girls, which, if not addressed, can bring issues to our nation.”

In attendance at the meeting were Mrs Monilola Udoh, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Women Affairs; representatives from the World Bank; United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA); United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UNWOMEN); United Nations Resident Coordinator’s Office (UNRCO); United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and other relevant stakeholders.