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Kashifu: Nigeria must take advantage of AfCFTA for software export

Mr. Kashifu Inuwa is the Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), the government agency regulating ICT in Nigeria. In this interview with SAMSON AKINTARO, he speaks on various initiatives of the agency aimed at cushioning the effect of COVID-19 on the sector, as well as challenges of regulating the industry. Excerpts:

 

 

By next month, August 20, it will be exactly one year you were appointed as the DG of NITDA. Where you surprised by your appointment by President Buhari?

 

I must say, it was an amazing journey. This isn’t something that I expected or even envisaged. It was indeed a pleasant surprise. It, however, shows the confidence my boss and mentor, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim, has in my ability to the extent of recommending me to President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, to take a giant leap step into his shoes. It is a great honour, and I am putting in my best not to disappoint the expectation of my boss and mentor, Mr. President, Nigerian Youths as well as the country as a whole.

 

How has it been in the last 11 months on the saddle of Nigeria’s IT development agency?

 

 

Well, as you may be aware, I am not new in Nigeria’s IT industry. I am at home being at the helm of affairs in NITDA. As a person that is open to new approaches and strategies, with the experiences I have gained for the last 15 years in the IT sector spanning between the private and the public sector and through unceasing study, my team and I have worked diligently to ensure the continuous development of the IT sector in Nigeria over the past 10 months. Remember, I picked it up from a good place to consolidate upon, considering the foundation laid by my boss and mentor, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim.

 

What are your expectations in terms of Nigeria exporting software and attracting foreign exchange in the long term?

 

Nigeria has come a long way from being a net importer of software into a significant hub for the development of talent for software development in Africa. This is evident from the value of investments that come into Nigeria’s startup ecosystem due to the successes of mostly software-powered applications developed by incredibly smart Nigerians.

 

This can be seen in the growth and capacities harnessed in the country’s technology hubs, mostly around Lagos and Abuja.

 

Also, there are numerous software houses churning out software to support banking, commerce, and government processes in Nigeria.

This is a testament to the ingenuity of Nigerians developing software to almost sufficiently meet local needs. However, we must strive to become net exporters of software by developing our model to produce more software engineers and find suitable markets for these talents.

 

One way is to prepare to take advantage of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (Af- CFTA), which provides the opportunities for Africa to improve inter-Africa trade generally and trade in services particularly. Nigerian Software will benefit immensely from an improved atmosphere in trade-in services.

 

This is important, considering that we already have all the ingredients needed to succeed. There is also the need to continue to incentivize software developers through lower taxes, subsidized development of talent and to create a pipeline of jobs that can be offered locally. This will lead to the development of proprietary solutions that can be standardized and sold as services to other countries in Africa or the rest of the world for significant foreign exchange.

 

Our initiative – the Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Support Scheme is one of the initiatives we have towards talent development. Furthermore, we are in discussion with Microsoft Corporation on the Global Skilling Initiative (GSI). It is an initiative aimed at helping 25 million people worldwide who have lost their jobs due to the

COVID-19 Pandemic to re-skill in in-demand technical and tech-enabled jobs in the digital economy.

 

What have been your biggest challenges as DG of NITDA?

The COVID-19 Pandemic has had devastating effects on countries globally. While looking at the management of the pandemic as challenging, it has been a turning point for revolutionizing of Digital Technologies to deliver products and services across the world, which is what we refer to as the new normal. Therefore, we did not miss the opportunity to prepare for the impact of the pandemic and also provide adequate support to insulate the Technology and Innovation Ecosystem.

 

NITDA’s mandates are diverse, what are the key mandates that you want to focus on during your administration?

 

You may be aware that NITDA is implementing a strategic roadmap for the development of Nigeria’s IT sector. It consists of 7 pillars that are in alignment with the 8 pillars of the National Digital Economy Policy & Strategy.

 

The 7 key pillars of our Roadmap are IT Regulation, Capacity Building, Digital Inclusion, Digital Job Creation, Government Digital Service Promotion, Local Content Development, and Cybersecurity.

 

We have rolled out several policies, regulations, and programmes, focusing on those areas. However, the roadmap is set to expire this year as is the Nigeria Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) which it draws from.

 

NITDA has already commenced reviewing it as well as developing the next plan, which will soon be launched. It is in alignment with and takes cognizance of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS), the Nigeria Economic Sustainability Plan (NESP), and other important plans and policies of this administration.

 

Recently, local OEMs decried poor implementation of the local content policy on PC procurement by MDAs. What has NITDA done in that regard?

 

NITDA has demonstrated great support and has ensured improved patronage of indigenous OEMs in the last 3 years. It is a fact that the purchase of local devices by MDAs is unprecedented within these years compared to previous years before 2018. For instance, in 2015-2016 less than 250,000 devices were sold by indigenous OEMs.

 

However, due to the intervention of NITDA, records show that in 2018/2019 alone OEMs sold three times the numbers sold prior to 2017 with about 778,886 of locally assembled devices sold in 2018 and 2019.

 

However, there are some challenges with the implementation of the Presidential Executive Order 003 for promotion of local content in the procurement of MDAs and the NITDA issued Guidelines for Nigerian Content Development in ICT, which mandates MDAs also to purchase Nigerian hardware products.

 

NITDA is implementing the Executive Order and Guidelines vigorously through active surveillance and IT Projects assessment and clearance process of the Agency. Nevertheless, procurement law requires OEMs to either bid directly or work with other contractors to bid to ensure transparency and value for money. If MDAs violate the process NITDA can then be notified for action.

 

There is also a challenge with the quality of some of the indigenous brands. In an effort to address this challenge, in 2018, we mandated these OEMs to go through a rigorous certification process requiring them to have ISO 9001:2015 for quality management systems.

 

This, we believe, will ensure they are able to provide products that meet quality and regulatory requirements always. Currently, only 3 out of 10 previously registered OEMs have been fully certified.

 

The Nigeria IT policy is due for review in light of the changes in the IT world. What measures are you taking on this?

 

It may interest you to know that our supervising Ministry, Federal Ministry of Communications, and Digital Economy handles policyrelated issues. You may be aware that there were several attempts at reviewing the policy in 2012, 2013, and 2017.

 

Currently, with my boss and mentor, Dr. Pantami as the Honourable Minister, the efforts have resulted in the development of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS), unveiled by President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, during the 2019 e-Nigeria International Conference, Exhibition and Awards, held on the November 28th, 2019. The NDEPS effectively replaces the National IT Policy.

 

How is NITDA supporting the Federal Government’s digital economy vision?

 

Even prior to the re-designation of the Federal Ministry of Communications, to include Digital Economy, NITDA has achieved a lot in that regard, through the implementation of a roadmap for the development of the Nigerian IT sector which consists of 7 pillars that are in alignment with the 8 pillars of the Digital Economy Policy & Strategy and the Nigeria IT Policy.

 

For instance, in promoting a digital Nigeria, NITDA from August 2019 to date has launched and is implementing regulatory instruments such as the Nigeria e-Government Interoperability Framework (Ne-GIF); Nigeria Cloud Computing Policy (NCCP); Nigeria ICT Innovation and Entrepreneurship Vision (NIIEV); Framework and Guidelines for ICT adoption in Tertiary Institutions; Guidelines for Nigeria Content Development ICT as amended; and Data Protection Implementation Framework.

 

Furthermore, we have different IT project interventions that we have carried out across the country in the last 1 year, which include 80 Digital Capacity Training Centres (DCTCs) with E-Learning facilities, six IT Hubs, six IT Community Centres, four IT Innovation & Incubation Parks, and three IT Capacity Training Centres – all with the aim of bridging the digital divide and providing access to the unserved and underserved population.

 

Nigeria is among the top three countries in Africa attracting the largest investments from venture vapitalists among its flourishing technology start-ups and hubs. What is NITDA putting in place to create a conducive environment and support for the start-up ecosystem?

You are right. Interestingly,

 

Nigeria occupied the first position with a total investment of US $747 Million, followed by Kenya with a total investment of US $564 Million and Egypt that attracted a total investment of US $211 Million. In an effort to consolidate these efforts, we have a series of initiatives aimed at providing a conducive environment and support for the Start-up Ecosystem.

 

These include the NITDA Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Support Scheme, which is targeting start-ups hub owners and youth with talent and building their skills in high-demand skills; Policies such as Tax Incentives for start-ups, incentives for investors and access to the market for innovation adoption; Establishment of Innovation and Research Fund to further catalyse the growth of start-ups; Development of an Innovation Portal to monitor the activities of the ecosystem; Fin- Tech software, which is already exported; and the establishment of the Tech4COVID19 Initiative to measure the impact of COVID-19 on the tech ecosystem and proffer solutions, especially for start-ups.

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