The Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa CCIE has reiterated the Agency’s commitment in intensifying cybersecurity awareness and promoting emerging technologies in the country.
Inuwa made this assertion while receiving the Head of Computer Science and Information Systems Department of University of Limerick, Ireland, Professor Mike Hinchey at the Agency’s corporate headquarters over the weekend.
The DG who was represented by the Agency’s Director of Information Technology Infrastructure Solutions Department, Dr. Usman Gambo Abdullahi expressed his gratitude to the Professor for finding time to visit the Agency.
While giving a brief overview of NITDA, Inuwa stated that the Agency which is saddled with the responsibility of driving Information Technology development in the country has Development, Regulation and Advisory as its three core mandates.
Speaking on the mandates, he said that the Agency coordinates IT development in the country through infrastructure development, capacity building and awareness creation.
He said, “every year, we deploy over 100 centres and we have larger centres in higher institutions which are called high information technology innovation hubs”.
Inuwa stated that the high information technology innovation hubs were deployed for research and development purposes as well as to provide opportunities for students in higher institutions of learning to develop their skills.
To ensure the growth of the sector, Inuwa averred that the Agency haa been working closely with relevant stakeholders in developing regulations that will support innovation and entrepreneurship. He further noted that the Agency provides advisory services on the deployment and penetration of Information Technology to government and private sector organizations.
He added that the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) which initiated the development of the Agency’s Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan (SRAP) is a product of advisory service and a key policy document that is driving the Ministry.
According to DG, Cybersecurity and Emerging Technologies have remained critical pillars of SRAP and the Agency has developed several initiatives and awareness campaigns to ensure the protection of citizenry data as well as create employability opportunities for Nigerian youth respectively.
Prof. Hichney in his reaction after taking a tour of the Agency’s Computer Readiness and Response Team (CERRT) unit as well as the National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (NCAIR) expressed his utmost admiration and respect for the achievements made by the Agency.
“I am very impressed with what I have seen today and I think Nigeria has a reputation in cybersecurity and emerging technologies”, he noted.
While commending the Agency on its unprecedented achievements thus far, he expressed his admiration for the Honorable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami) whom he described as an enthusiastic technocrat inspired in driving the digital growth of the Nation to global standards.
