The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with SecDojo, SAS, a cybersecurity training and upskilling company with headquarters in France, in continuation of its efforts to implement the current administration’s agenda of strengthening national security by committing to strong cybersecurity measures and digital trust to protect the nation’s digital infrastructure and contribute to the overall peace and prosperity of the nation.
The signing ceremony took place during the GITEX Africa 2025 event in Marrakech, Morocco, with the Director General of NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa CCIE, and the Chief Executive Officer of SecDojo, Mr. Younes Benzagmout, representing both organisations.
The goal of this strategic cooperation is to strengthen Nigeria’s cybersecurity environment by implementing extensive capacity-building programs. Establishing a cybersecurity academy, providing advanced training and simulation programs, creating a specialised curriculum and instructional materials, and facilitating research, information sharing, and professional exchange programs are the main objectives of the partnership.
Inuwa, who spoke at the signing event, was excited about the partnership and called it a significant turning point in Nigeria’s progress towards a safe 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 noted.
As Nigeria proceeds on its path of digital transformation, he claimed that investing in human capital is crucial, characterising people as the technological element of any innovation ecosystem.
Given its size and youthful population, Inuwa underlined Nigeria’s ability to bridge the talent gap and acknowledged the rising demand for cybersecurity specialists worldwide.
“Globally, we have the gap, and in Nigeria, we have a young population that if we harness, well, we can train them and connect them with the global value chain to provide cybersecurity services and also to fill some roles and gaps in the global cybersecurity market,” he averred.
The DG urged closer cooperation between technology stakeholders and the Federal Ministry of Education in order to incorporate cybersecurity and digital literacy instruction into Nigeria’s formal education system, while also advocating for the integration of digital skills.
He said that long-term, systematic integration of digital skills into academic curricula at all levels, from primary to tertiary education, is urgently needed, replacing short-term skills acceleration programs.
“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,” he said.
“Currently, what NITDA offers are skills acceleration programs 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.
He emphasised the advantages of a dual-track learning system that prepares graduates for immediate relevance in the digital economy, citing successful models like Cisco’s academic integration, which enables students in more than 100 Nigerian universities to earn both degrees and professional certifications simultaneously.
Although Cisco has set the standard, he pointed out that the ecosystem needs to be accessible to a variety of partners, particularly those who support Nigeria’s National Digital Literacy Framework. He also urged tech companies and content providers to work together to provide open-source or specially created content that can be used across the country.
“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 remark, Mr. Benzagmout expressed his enthusiasm for the collaboration and reaffirmed the company’s commitment to working closely with Nigerian stakeholders.
He noted that the collaboration aims to bring SecDojo’s innovative training platforms and methodologies to support Nigeria’s cybersecurity professionals while contributing 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.
