The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) is introducing the Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Support Scheme (TIES) to provide opportunity and build capacity of both Hub Managers and Technology startups, to ensure massive creation of entrepreneurs and jobs within the ecosystem.
This development comes in addition to the country’s transformation into a knowledge-based and IT-driven economy in accordance with the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS).
The idea was conceived during the COVID-19 pandemic to aid industry partners who have developed IT hubs to upskill their hubs and help with their companies, as detailed by the Director-General NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa, CCIE, during a webinar session with stakeholders and members of the TIES Scheme.
Because of the epidemic, he claimed, many economies are currently battling to survive, which makes it clear that adopting the new normal—encouraging the development of innovative technologies to improve the economy—is the way to go.
According to Inuwa, the project would be utilized as a platform to invest in creative people who can create jobs for themselves and other people. It will also allow partners to bring their ideas to life as products and services.
“NITDA, as a Federal Government Agency, was established to, among others, develop and regulate Information Technology (IT) in Nigeria and is assiduously working to develop the innovation process through the creation of enabling platforms and opportunities propelling creative ideas from inception to actualization, resulting into impact in the society.”
“As an Agency, we noticed that most of the young talented people who have ideas lack mentorship.” He added that, ‘innovative solutions are needed to tackle the problems in the country which NITDA is helping by creating the avenue that would provide a balance between the innovators and the markets,’ he added.
He added that NITDA is working to meet the target of achieving 95% digital literacy by 2030, which is feasible if the Agency and its partners collaborate. This goal would help to speed the country’s progress toward prosperity.
The head of NITDA indicated that the goal may be reached by combining two strategies: educating people about technology and digital services and creating local capacity for the establishment of digital services.
“There is a target to train 1 million developers in the next 18 months, and we will be looking forward to getting better ideas from you on how to deliver this initiative because as a government agency we believe the only way to achieve success is to work together and establish stronger partnerships between ourselves,” he concluded.
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