The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has called for input from Nigerians, stakeholders to the Nigeria ICT Innovation and Entrepreneurship Vision (NIIEV).
In a statement made available to newsmen on Tuesday by Mrs. Hadiza Umar, Head, Corporate Affairs and External Relations of NITDA said that as part of the agency’s rulemaking process, the document has been subjected to internal reviews by some key Government agencies where insightful feedback and updates were received.
The agency further disclosed that in an effort to enrich the document and in line with the agency’s policy of participatory regulation, industry stakeholders and the general public are invited to review the document through either of the following (i) on the consultation tool at https://niiev.ictinnovation.gov.ng (ii) via www.nitda.gov.ng and click important notice (iii) via facebook chatbot at http://m.me/ngrinnovation or simply send an email to info@ictinnovation.gov.ng.
While reiterating on his vision to promote ICT in Nigeria, NITDA said the portal for the review are open from 13th November 2018 to 27th November, 2018.
The statement reads further:
“NITDA, under the current leadership of Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, hosted the maiden edition of the ICT Innovation and Entrepreneurship stakeholders meeting on the 31st October 2017. The statement further disclosed that the objective of the meeting was to collectively identify the challenges of stakeholders and identify strategies to address them for a thriving technology ecosystem. Several representatives from Government, Hubs, banks, investor networks, academia, media and technology entrepreneurs were in attendance.
“Furthermore, President Muhammadu Buhari at e-Nigeria 2017, charged NITDA to develop policies and strategies that will change Nigeria’s narrative from being a tech-consuming to a tech-producing country. To unlock our national potential, NITDA proposes a number of urgent measures to connect, educate and enable digital innovation. This birthed the Nigeria ICT Innovation and Entrepreneurship Vision (NIIEV). The NIIEV comprise of policy recommendations and incentives on the key components for building a tech ecosystem and are categorised into 3 themes:
(1) Digital Infrastructure
(2) Education Reform, skills Development and R&D; and
(3) Supporting the Ecosystem for Innovative Entrepreneurship.
“NITDA through its subsidiary, the Office for ICT Innovation and Entrepreneurship (OIIE) has worked directly with entrepreneurs, hubs and hub networks to review the best practices across Africa and around the world to support digital transformation in Nigeria.
NITDA is a Federal Government Agency established in April 2001 to implement the Nigerian Information Technology policy and coordinate general IT development and regulation in the country. Specifically, Sections 6(h & i) of the Act mandate NITDA to create incentives to promote the use of information technology in all spheres of life in Nigeria including the development of guidelines for setting up of information technology systems and knowledge parks as well as introduce appropriate regulatory policies and incentives to encourage private sector investment in the information technology industry.