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From Tony John, Port Harcourt
The National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA, has restated its commitment to achieving 95 per cent digital literacy in Nigeria by 2031, saying it is fully backing the forthcoming StartupSouth annual conference in Port Harcourt.
The regional head of NITDA in Port Harcourt, Priye Toritseju, disclosed this during a pre-conference media chat organised by StartupSouth at the weekend in Port Harcourt. The conference will hold from October 22 to 23 at the Dr Obi Wali International Conference Centre.
Toritseju said the Federal Government is in full support of the programme because it wants the technology sector to grow across the country.
He said part of NITDA’s mandate is to create the right environment for information technology to thrive through interventions and support for ecosystem players.
According to him, the agency regulates the IT sector, helps states develop their own IT policies, and is implementing key national initiatives such as the Data Protection Act, e-government services, the Startup Act and the National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, NCAIR.
He disclosed that NITDA plans to cascade its projects to the regions, including establishing an artificial intelligence centre in Port Harcourt and other states in the South-South.
Toritseju said: “We have a literacy target of 75 per cent by 2027 and 95 per cent by 2031. It is a national framework. NITDA cannot do it alone. We have to work with people, we have to work with the ecosystem to see that a lot of training is going on.”
He added that the agency has developed a digital literacy dashboard that will be displayed during the conference to track training and help achieve the target.
He explained that NITDA’s Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan, STRAP, is designed to develop the digital economy nationwide, stressing that data remains the new oil.
“That data sitting down in your office, in government offices, is actually money sitting down. Before, you go to NEPA office to recharge, they will close by 5 pm. Now, you can buy online. That data that was sitting down, somebody has tapped it and they are making billions,” he said.
He cited platforms like BuyPower, which now has a microfinance bank, and the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, which has moved from depending on government allocation to generating revenue for the Federal Government, as examples of how digitisation creates value.
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Toritseju assured that NITDA will use the conference to expose more opportunities, including scholarships and grants for startups, adding that the Director General of the agency is fully in support of the programme.
Earlier, founder of StartupSouth, Uche Aniche, said the innovation ecosystem cannot grow as deep as desired without the active engagement of the media.
Aniche said the advocacy organisation is concerned about deepening the startup and technology ecosystem across Africa, starting from Nigeria.
He said: “We reached out and worked with partners to mobilise about N30 million in prize pool for founders to compete for at the conference.”
He disclosed that over 70 per cent of the applications for the competition came from founders within the region.
Aniche said one of the key goals of the conference is to put the region on the global innovation map, noting that Port Harcourt and Enugu currently feature in StartupBlink’s Top 500 startup cities, with the target of pushing cities from the region into the Top 100.
According to him, Lagos is currently the only African city in the Top 100 ranking.
He said: “Nigeria is a superpower. We are not just a superpower in terms of population. We are superpower because of the brain matter, because of the ingenuity of our people. We don’t have any reason to be a poor country. The only reason we are a poor country is because we are not pushing at our capacity.
“Imagine what will happen when Nigeria unleashes all of its regions. And it’s not government alone that will do it. We all have a part to play, and this is our own part.”
Aniche added that StartupSouth believes innovators should lead and allow government to play catch-up, citing the fintech sector, which grew before regulations came.
“The fintech sector showed that. Fintech did not wait for a government regulation before it started,” he said.
