The Director General, National information technology Development Agency (NITDA) Kashifu Inuwu has reiterated the Agency’s commitment towards supporting young Nigerian innovators.
Inuwa made the commitment during the opening ceremony of the APP-LAB Fellowship Programme in collaboration with the Young Innovators of Nigeria in Abuja.
According to him, the nation’s apex IT regulator will continue to maintain itself as the champion of innovation in the country.
Represented by Dr Salihu Abdulkareem noted that the APP-LAB Young Innovators Fellowship Program which seeks to identify, mentor and train young Nigerians for free in Emerging Technology skills and match them with industry practitioners, will surely create a platform for creating jobs in IT the Sector.
He noted that the fellowship concept if implemented properly, would produce a team of developers who will become Technology Entrepreneurs for themselves and other companies in the nearest future.
“NITDA believes that our youth must be trained and given the prerequisite skills in order to participate in the knowledge economy and create wealth for themselves and the country at large,” he said.
Inuwa maintained that “Government cannot do it alone, and it is encouraging to see organizations coming up with initiatives that help the country in bridging the digital gap,” Inuwa explained.
NITDA Boss explained that the Agency has been playing a key role in creating various initiatives and programmes that support innovation-driven Startups’ ideas.
“At NITDA, we believe innovation and entrepreneurship have become a strong catalytic force for economic growth, wealth creation, and sustainable development. We are supporting the Startups ecosystem in Nigeria for inclusive development.” He assured.
While highlighting some initiatives by the Agency, Inuwa said “the NITDA initiated startup voucher programme to support viable business idea for incubation in any technology hubs of their choices across Nigeria. In 2022 the Agency also launched iHatch Programme, which was designed to refine the business model of Nigerian entrepreneurs through a series of mentoring, lectures and boot camps, and enable the creation of viable and scalable business models, hence, the creation of innovation-driven enterprise (IDEs)”
“The overall goal of iHatch is to establish companies, which are legally Incorporated under (CAC) by young Nigerians, produce minimum viable product (MVP) of their innovative ideas, establish connection between startups and investors, enable NITDA to analyze the startup ecosystem and take necessary actions to improve the ecosystem through government actions and incentives,” Inuwa stated.
While taking turns to appreciate NITDA, APP-LAP and Young Innovators of Nigeria, Mr Andrew Abu, shared the challenges being faced by the young innovators.
Mr Abu identified funding as one of the major challenges nevertheless, he remains confident that at the end of the programme, fellows will come up with various futuristic solutions that will make an impact on Nigeria’s quest to be one of the biggest digital economies among nations.
Source: Voice of Nigeria