The National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA, through its IT project clearance mandate, has assessed and cleared 62 Information Technology related projects worth 1,168,145,213,150 between January and May this year.
The Director-General of NITDA, Mr. Kashifu Inuwa disclosed this at a virtual meeting organised by a subsidiary of the Agency, Office for Nigerian Content development ONC.
Inuwa who was represented by the Director IT Infrastructure Solutions, Dr. Usman Gambo Abdullahi, said this was an indication of the drive to digitalise government services, as most of these projects are service-based.
Speaking on the theme of the meeting “Harnessing indigenous solutions for public sector innovation and digital development”, Inuwa said it was very apt at this critical period of our digital experience.
He explained that the assessment shows that about 64,878,725,488 naira were for software and software-enabled projects noting that more can be achieved with a deeper collaboration between the public and private sector using technology as a driver for public services.
“Therefore, for successful development and delivery of government digital services, it is significantly important that innovative Nigerian companies are engaged very early in the project from the conceptualization and design stages”, Inuwa said.
The DG said that the effect of the pandemic on the economy, governance, and public service delivery has spurred a greater urgency for the development of government digital services and the digital economy for Nigeria.
Inuwa while elaborating on the benefits of collaborations and partnerships between the public and private sector said it will deepen the opportunity for learning to create tailor-made solutions for societal problems.
The National Coordinator of ONC, Kassim Sodangi stated that “our key objective is that, for solutions that are driven or adopted by the Federal Government, we want to encourage that beyond issuing out procurement notices and adverts, the MDAs will be able to sit down with indigenous content providers to discuss and come up with a plan or strategy to drive the development of the solution”.
Speaking on the digital economy, Sodangi stated that indigenous content development and adaptation, which is the pillar of the Subsidiary is central to the development of the digital economy in Nigeria.
