Nigeria must move beyond outsourcing to AI-enabled services — Inuwa
By Alabidun Shuaib AbdulRahman
The Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa, has said Nigeria must move beyond traditional outsourcing and position its workforce for higher-value, artificial intelligence-enabled global services.
Inuwa stated this during the “Hire from Nigeria” session organised by the National Talent Export Programme on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York.
The session focused on impact sourcing, global trade, digital skills and inclusive job creation as Nigeria seeks to connect its growing talent pool with international demand.
The NITDA chief participated in the discussion alongside the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Jumoke Oduwole, and the Minister of Education, Moruf Alausa.
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The Federal Government’s Hire From Nigeria initiative is designed to connect Nigerian professionals, service providers and businesses with international employers and markets.
The initiative was launched in Abuja in August before being taken to the UNGA platform.
Inuwa said the rapid development of artificial intelligence presented Nigeria with an opportunity to build a distinctive position in the global digital-services market.
He argued that Nigeria’s competitive advantage should not be limited to supplying workers for conventional business-process outsourcing but should include AI-augmented and information technology-enabled services.
According to him, Nigerian workers need to be equipped not only to use emerging technologies but also to understand, develop and create economic value with them.
The NITDA boss also pointed to the importance of trust and regulatory certainty in attracting international companies to Nigeria’s digital-services ecosystem.
He cited developments around data protection, digital identity, cybersecurity, digital infrastructure assurance, data classification, sovereign cloud and software quality assurance as elements required to build confidence among global businesses.
Inuwa also referenced Project BRIDGE, the Federal Government’s plan to deploy at least 90,000 kilometres of fibre-optic infrastructure as a national digital backbone.
Project BRIDGE is designed as a public-private partnership and is intended to expand broadband connectivity across Nigeria while supporting access to digital services, education, healthcare and economic opportunities.
The NITDA director-general said the availability of computing infrastructure would also be critical to Nigeria’s ability to participate meaningfully in the emerging AI economy.
He referenced the Federal Government’s Cloud First Policy and efforts to attract private-sector investment in computing infrastructure and AI facilities.
Inuwa further warned that representation would be critical as artificial intelligence systems increasingly influence economic and social activities.
He said communities and economies that were absent from the datasets used to develop intelligent systems risked being poorly represented in technologies that would shape the future.
He cited the National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics and the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy as part of Nigeria’s efforts to build indigenous capacity and connect local talent with opportunities in the global digital economy.
The NITDA chief said the country’s objective should therefore be to equip its workforce with the technology, infrastructure and capabilities required to compete for higher-value opportunities.
