NITDA Boss Urges Collaboration to Unlock Africa’s Potential
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NITDA Boss Urges Collaboration to Unlock Africa’s Potential
By Alabidun Shuaib AbdulRahman
The Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa, has emphasized the need for industry experts and start-ups to work closely with the government in creating robust regulations to advance human and infrastructural development in Africa.
Speaking at the second edition of the annual Moonshot Tech Conference 2024, held at the Eko Convention Centre, Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos State, Inuwa stressed the importance of balancing innovation and regulation.
He noted that innovation requires creativity, while regulation ensures stability, adding that NITDA has developed an intelligent regulatory framework designed to understand the terrain before placing regulations.
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“A regulation that will make us intelligent, understand what you are trying to build, understand the value you are bringing to the market and dynamic because we need to create that room for people to navigate,” he explained.
Inuwa pointed out that Africa’s greatest asset in the tech ecosystem is its human capital, citing a World Bank report that predicts an 85 million talent deficit globally by 2030, potentially leading to $8.5 trillion in unrealized annual value.
He urged governments to enlighten people on the technology ecosystem’s potential for solving local and global challenges.
“Africa has a young population, and we can harness that population and position ourselves to become the global talent factory to bridge this gap deficit,” he added.
The NITDA boss praised the Nigeria Startup Act, co-created with the tech ecosystem to encourage venture capital, innovation hubs, and local capital investments.
He called for collective action to strengthen Africa’s digital economy, emphasizing the need for digital infrastructure to share content and foster data flow across borders.
“We need to build the digital infrastructure that will allow us to share content within Africa and foster data flow across borders,” he said.
Inuwa’s call for collaboration was reinforced by other notable speakers at the conference, including Dr. Augustina Odame, CEO of the Ghana Chamber of Technology; David Manley, Chief Advisor on Technology in Sierra Leone; and Marieme Kane, Director of Innovation at the Ministry of Digital Transformation in Mauritania.
The Moonshot Tech Conference 2024 brought together the brightest minds in the African tech space to network, collaborate, and share insights on shaping the continent’s tech economies to compete globally.
