{"id":6085,"date":"2026-11-06T14:37:23","date_gmt":"2026-11-06T14:37:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/?p=6085"},"modified":"2026-11-06T15:14:12","modified_gmt":"2026-11-06T15:14:12","slug":"digital-economy-reforms-drive-skills-development-innovation-digital-infrastructure-nitda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/?p=6085","title":{"rendered":"Digital Economy reforms drive skills development, innovation, digital infrastructure \u2013 NITDA"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>*<strong><em>Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, CCIE, Director-General, National Information Technology Development Agency, explains how the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, is deliberately advancing the burgeoning Nigeria Digital Economy in the West African country <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Gbenga Kayode | ConsumerConnect<\/p>\n<p>Malam Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, CCIE, Director-General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), has said the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, is advancing the Nigeria Digital Economy agenda.<\/p>\n<p>Inuwa noted the current administration has been doing this through strategic investments in digital skills development, technology talent creation, innovation financing, Broadband connectivity and emerging technologies across the country.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"NLXdLlWDEG\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/?p=6094\">Health Alert: FCCPC warns producers, directs adequate fortification of oil and salt with full minerals (See Brands)<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"\u201cHealth Alert: FCCPC warns producers, directs adequate fortification of oil and salt with full minerals (See Brands)\u201d \u2014 Consumer Experience Is A Top Priority\" src=\"https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/?p=6094&amp;embed=true#?secret=3kmUb8MVU5#?secret=NLXdLlWDEG\" data-secret=\"NLXdLlWDEG\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The Director-General of NITDA stated this at the recent Global Tech Africa event with the theme, \u201cConnecting Africa, Accelerating Growth&#8221;, held in Kano, Northern Nigeria.<\/p>\n<p>Presenting his opening keynote at the Global Tech Africa 2026, Inuwa also outlined the Federal Government\u2019s initiatives to develop indigenous technological capacity, strengthen the innovation ecosystem, and position Nigeria as a leading digital hub across Africa.<\/p>\n<p>The Chief Executive of the IT sector regulatory agency explained the Tinubu administration\u2019s approach recognises human capital as a critical foundation for economic transformation, with several initiatives introduced to prepare Nigerians for opportunities in an increasingly technology-driven economy.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Some Federal Government digital economy initiatives, by Inuwa<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Reeling off some of the Federal Government&#8217;s digital economy initiatives, Inuwa noted that among these interventions are the Three Million Technical Talent (3MTT) programme, which seeks to develop a skilled technology workforce.<\/p>\n<p>There is also the Digital Literacy for All (DL4ALL) initiative, which aims to equip citizens with the foundational digital competencies required to participate in the digital economy.<\/p>\n<p>The Federal Government, he stated, is also integrating digital skills into formal education, from kindergarten to tertiary institutions, to prepare future generations to develop indigenous solutions and compete in the global technology market.<\/p>\n<p>According to him, through DL4ALL, the Nigerian Government is pursuing an ambitious target of achieving 95 percent digital literacy by 2030, ensuring that Nigerians across different communities and economic sectors can access, understand and utilise digital services.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Significance of digital transformation <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Highlighting the far-reaching merits of technology in the economy, Inuwa emphasised that digital transformation must go beyond providing internet access and smartphones to creating a progression from connectivity and digital literacy to technology adoption, productivity and national prosperity.<\/p>\n<p>The NITDA Chief further explained that technology should enable citizens, businesses and traders to improve efficiency, reduce operational costs, expand markets, and generate economic value.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Insight into digital infrastructure agenda<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In regard to innovation financing, Inuwa disclosed that NITDA, in collaboration with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), is working towards establishing six funds to support startups developing innovative solutions in the country&#8217;s digital space.<\/p>\n<p>Inuwa also identified the Bank of Industry (BoI), and other development finance institutions as important sources of funding for entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n<p>Inuwa as well urged increased private-sector participation in financing innovation.<\/p>\n<p>Government funding alone cannot sustain a growing entrepreneurial ecosystem.<\/p>\n<p>He stated: \u201cPrivate investors can provide not only capital but also equity partnerships, corporate governance, business expertise and leadership to help startups grow.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The Director-General said the Federal Government\u2019s digital infrastructure agenda includes expanding Broadband connectivity through plans to extend fibre-optic infrastructure across all 774 Local Government Areas, the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.<\/p>\n<p>Building on these interventions, he explained that Nigeria must develop sufficient domestic computing capacity to complement its connectivity investments.<\/p>\n<p>This informed NITDA\u2019s National Sovereign Cloud Initiative, which seeks to strengthen the country&#8217;s computing infrastructure, promote digital sovereignty and ensure that data generated within Nigeria can be securely processed and stored locally.<\/p>\n<p>Describing data centres as the refineries of the digital economy, Inuwa noted that they provide the computing capacity required to transform raw data into valuable insights, products and services.<\/p>\n<p>He maintained that Nigeria must develop the capacity to own and control these critical digital assets to reduce dependence on foreign computing infrastructure and position the country as the computing hub for West and Central Africa.<\/p>\n<p><strong>On Africa&#8217;s representation in AI models<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In respect of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Inuwa observed that Africa accounts for less than two percent of the data used to train AI models, raising concerns about the continent&#8217;s representation in emerging technologies.<\/p>\n<p>The Director-General of NITDA urged increased local participation in developing Large Language Models (LLMs), and other AI solutions that capture Nigeria&#8217;s languages, cultures and socioeconomic realities.<\/p>\n<p>Using Kano as an example, he advocated renewed efforts at restoring the state&#8217;s historic position as a major commercial centre for the Sahel region through digital technology, modern trade and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).<\/p>\n<p>Inuwa further observed that e-commerce and changing business models have disrupted traditional trading patterns, allowing customers in neighbouring countries to purchase goods online without travelling to Kano. However, he maintained that the city has significant opportunities to reclaim its commercial influence by leveraging digital platforms to connect North Africa and the Middle East with sub-Saharan Africa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>*Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, CCIE, Director-General, National Information Technology Development Agency, explains how the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, is deliberately advancing the burgeoning&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6088,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"Malam Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, CCIE, Director-General of NITDA, Delivering the Opening Keynote at the Global Tech Africa 2026, in Kano, Northern Nigeria\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0  Photo: NITDA\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":"","_customify_content_layout":"","_customify_sidebar":"","_customify_page_header_display":"default","_customify_disable_header":"","_customify_disable_header_top":"","_customify_disable_header_main":"","_customify_disable_header_bottom":"","_customify_disable_page_title":"","_customify_disable_content_vertical_padding":"","_customify_disable_footer_top":"","_customify_disable_footer_main":"","_customify_disable_footer_bottom":"","_customify_breadcrumb_display":"","_customify_header_transparent_display":"default","footnotes":""},"categories":[20,3,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-highlights","category-infoeducation","category-markets"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/IMG-20261105-WA00242.jpg",1276,699,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/IMG-20261105-WA00242-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/IMG-20261105-WA00242-300x164.jpg",300,164,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/IMG-20261105-WA00242-768x421.jpg",768,421,true],"large":["https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/IMG-20261105-WA00242-1024x561.jpg",843,462,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/IMG-20261105-WA00242.jpg",1276,699,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/IMG-20261105-WA00242.jpg",1276,699,false]},"author_info":{"info":["ConsumerConnect"]},"category_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/?cat=20\" rel=\"category\">Highlights<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/?cat=3\" rel=\"category\">InfoEducation<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/?cat=4\" rel=\"category\">Markets<\/a>","tag_info":"Markets","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6085"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6085\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6115,"href":"https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6085\/revisions\/6115"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/consumerconnectng.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}