By Adewole Kehinde
The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) was created on the 18th April 2001 to implement the Nigerian Information Technology Policy and co-ordinate general IT development in the country.
The Agency’s Act mandate it to create a framework for the planning, research, development, standardization, application, coordination, monitoring, evaluation and regulation of Information Technology practices, activities and systems in Nigeria.
Its role therefore is to develop, regulate and advise on Information technology in the country through regulatory standards, guidelines and policies. Additionally, NITDA is the clearing house for all IT projects and infrastructural development in the country. It is the prime Agency for e-government implementation, Internet governance and General IT development in Nigeria.
NITDA is poised to actualise its mammoth mandate through strategic and inclusive stakeholder management, local and international partnership and efficient utilisation of resources in the interest of Nigeria
NITDA has recorded tremendous successes in the last 20 years since it was created.
On this very auspicious occasion; the celebration of NITDA’s Platinum Jubilee, I present to the people of Nigeria 20 most significant achievements since its establishment.
These include:
1. Establishment of the National Information Technology Development Fund (NITDEF) for the development of IT in Nigeria.
2. Established the NITDA Academy for Research and Training with 51 plus active courses, 27,559 plus active students and 24634 plus active training sessions.
3. Held an online National Innovation Challenge to meet the challenges faced as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. . 3 startups with highly innovative ideas won the challenge and were rewarded with #1,000,000 for 1st Place, #750,000 for 2nd Place, and #500,000 for 3rd Place.
4. Successful representation of Nigeria at Gulf Information Technology Exhibitions (GITEX) since 2014
5. Creation of Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NIRA) to create, manage and maintain the database of names registered in the .ng country code Top Level Domain name space in the public interest of Nigeria and global internet communities.
6. Established the CISCO Network Academy.
7. Creation of the National Adopted Village for Smart Agriculture (NAVSA) and the Smart Agriculture App for precision farming.
8. Deployed 10 Innovation Hubs and incubation parks across selected States within the 6 Geopolitical Zones.
9. Inauguration of the Data Breach Investigation Team (DBIT) in partnership with the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) for enforcement.
10. Deployed 4 Special Purpose Community IT Training Centers.
11. Established collaboration with Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) to secure funding in special areas of NGEA/Ne-GIF implementation.
12. Created a Portal to support the Nigeria ICT Innovation Entrepreneurship Vision (NIIEV) for the Tech Ecosystem, which consists of a database for hubs, start-ups & other stakeholders.
13. Developed interactive platform for MDAs, consumer and IT service providers to enhance quality of service delivery in government institutions
14. Conducted Stakeholders’ engagement on the Service Level Agreement (SLA) framework that will guide MDAs in drafting SLA agreements with service providers.
15. Issued 172 Certificates for Indigenous IT Companies, contractors Digital Economy Strategy
16. Establishment of National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics
17. Developed e-Agriculture web Portals.
18. Established NITDA Software Testing and Quality Assurance Infrastructure.
19. Established Capacity Building Laboratory to assist in testing our locally developed software.
20. Set up the National Public Key Infrastructure (PKI).
Adewole Kehinde is the Publisher of Swift Reporters and can be reached via 08166240846, 08123608662
