The National Information Technology Development Agency NITDA, has said developmental regulations on digital economy it developed will aid the 4th industrial revolution(4IR).
Other tools developed to aid the regulation include supplementary guidelines on National Data Protection Reporting (NDPR), BPO framework and strategy, Digital Assets management guidelines for FPIs.
“The best way to find new and innovative solutions is by bringing together innovative ideas to uncover new ways of understanding how to strengthen our approaches and technologies”, said the Director General of NITDA, Mallam Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi.
The DG who was represented by Director IT Infrastructure Solutions, Dr Usman Gambo Abdullahi stated these while delivering his goodwill message at the virtual opening ceremony of the ongoing Nigeria Computer Society(NCS) Conference 2020; with the theme “Emerging Applications and Technologies For Industry 4.0 (EATI’2020).
Speaking on the NITDA’s effort as it relates to Digital Economy and 4IR, he said the agency has within a year deployed 80 Digital Job creation centers, 80 e-learning facilities, 3 IT Hubs, 4 Innovation and Incubation Parks, 6 IT Community Centers, and 3 IT capacity Building Centers for Higher Institution, unserved and underserved communities.
While rolling out statistics he quoted Microsoft saying it has been estimated that there will be 149 million new technology jobs by 2025, one million new jobs for privacy and trust, six million for cyber security, 20 million for data analysis; machine learning and Artificial Intelligence, AI, 23 million new cloud and data roles and 98 million software development jobs.
The agency said it is also working on Blockchain adoption strategy, AI framework and strategy and Data exploration/analysis framework and strategy
“Emerging applications and technologies are results of a need for progressive society. It is all about satisfying the quest of the society, wiith various Emerging Applications and Technologies, we are increasingly being tasked to do more with less” he added.
Mallam Abdullahi further gave instances of the need for education systems that teach our kids to better tap into modern tools (technology), businesses that offer everything and anything digitized, personalized, and ideally operating in real-time, hospitals that can leverage on a more timely health information that provides faster and more definitive diagnoses. All these and many others, he said promote a culture of novel solutions to suit societal demands.
He mentioned that according to a World Economic Forum (WEF) report on the Future of Jobs, advancements in the Internet of Things (IoT), advanced manufacturing, and new energy supplies and technologies are expected to play more role in the shifting workforce environment. The society, he said, is embracing brave new ideas and technologies at an unprecedented pace and scale.
The DG opined that advancements and innovations in technology brings about a lot of opportunities which in turn brings about enhanced productivity and new categories of products and services.
Mallam Abdullahi charged participants to engage one another, to have a holistic view and think critically from a dynamic perspective. He stated that the event is apt as it seeks to harness the potentials of emerging technologies for sustainable national development in the 4IR.
