By Chinenye Anuforo
In a move aimed at strengthening national cybersecurity and digital trust, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with SecDojo, SAS, a cybersecurity training company based in France.
The agreement, finalised at the GITEX Africa 2025 event in Marrakech, Morocco, signifies a collaborative effort to enhance Nigeria’s resilience against cyber threats through targeted capacity-building initiatives.
The Director General of NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa, and the Chief Executive Officer of SecDojo, Mr Younes Benzagmout, represented their respective organisations at the signing ceremony. This strategic partnership is designed to improve Nigeria’s cybersecurity capabilities through comprehensive capacity-building programmes.
The collaboration will focus on establishing a Cybersecurity Academy, delivering advanced training and simulation exercises, developing customised curricula and educational materials, and facilitating research, knowledge exchange, and professional development programmes.
Speaking at the event, Inuwa expressed his enthusiasm for the collaboration, highlighting its importance in Nigeria’s progress towards a secure digital future. “We just signed an MOU with SecDojo, which is a cybersecurity capacity-building provider, and this is one of our efforts to strengthen our national cybersecurity to enhance our cyber resilience,” he stated.
Inuwa emphasised the critical role of human capital development in Nigeria’s digital transformation journey, noting that people are the essential technological component of any innovation ecosystem. He also pointed out the increasing global demand for cybersecurity professionals and Nigeria’s potential to contribute to filling this gap, given its large and youthful population.
“Globally, we have the gap, and in Nigeria, we have a young population that, if we harness well, we can train and connect with the global value chain to provide cybersecurity services and also to fill some roles and gaps in the global cybersecurity market,” he explained.
Advocating for the integration of digital skills into Nigeria’s formal education system, the DG called for greater collaboration between technology stakeholders and the Federal Ministry of Education. He stressed the urgent need to move from short-term skills acceleration programmes to a long-term, systemic integration of digital skills into academic curricula at all levels of education.
“For me, this goes beyond NITDA. I see a national opportunity, one that involves the Ministry of Education, to institutionalise digital literacy through formal education,” Inuwa said. “Currently, what NITDA offers are skills acceleration programmes because these critical digital competencies are not taught in schools. But to prepare for the future, we must embed these skills into our national education framework,” he added.
Inuwa highlighted successful models like Cisco’s academic integration, which allows students in over 100 Nigerian universities to earn both degrees and professional certifications concurrently. He emphasised the benefits of a dual-track learning system that prepares graduates for immediate relevance in the digital economy.
While acknowledging Cisco’s leadership, he encouraged openness to multiple partners aligned with Nigeria’s National Digital Literacy Framework, urging tech firms and content providers to collaborate by offering open-source or customised content for national adoption.
“We don’t want to limit this to a single vendor. The opportunity is open to all. Google has shown interest, and we welcome more partners. There are committees already working with the ministry, and we’d love to see more stakeholders at the table,” he concluded.
In his remarks, Mr Benzagmout expressed his enthusiasm for the collaboration and reaffirmed SecDojo’s commitment to working closely with Nigerian stakeholders. He noted that the collaboration aims to leverage SecDojo’s innovative training platforms and methodologies to support Nigerian cybersecurity professionals and contribute to the development and execution of a comprehensive national cyber capacity-building strategy.
“We sincerely thank NITDA for their trust and partnership, and we are excited to begin this journey and look forward to building a successful and impactful collaboration,” he assured.