The Director General, National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA, Kashifu Abdullahi, has described the partnership with Abuja Enterprise Agency, AEA, as imperative to President Muhammadu Buhari’s resolve to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in the next 10 years.
Mr Abdullahi expressed this view on Monday while playing host to the Management of AEA at the NITDA Corporate Headquarter, Abuja.
The DG noted that with the support AEA is giving to over 100,000 entrepreneurs in providing finances, workplace and information and Communication Technology, ICT support, it will help in driving the vision of the government.
According to him, the partnership would help in creating job opportunities for Nigerians that would aid economic growth and development of the country.
He further stated that capacity building is one of the key pillars of the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy and NITDA.
Mr Abdullahi further stressed that it was necessary to build capacity of Nigerians in order to prepare them to participate in digital economy.
He said: “Our doors are always open for collaborations that will move the country forward.
“The AEA management and staff are free to come to the Agency’s IT Lab Hub and use the facilities for researches and content development.
“The Agency is building ICT Innovation Hubs where ideas and innovations are to be nurtured with the objective of bringing out solutions that will impact on the economy and also create either direct or indirect jobs.”
In his remarks, the AEA Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Arabi Tukur solicited for collaboration with NITDA in revamping the AEA’s ICT Hub.
According to him, it could be achieved with networking and computing devices for it to operate fully in IT value chain, job creation and meeting demands for IT goods and services in the FCT.
Mr Tukur identified other areas of collaboration including upgrading of the One-Stop Shop to accommodate virtual interface, capacity building on ICT for staff and clients of the Agency and support for trainees of the creative industry with start-up kits.
Others are inclusion of AEA in the NITDA Digital Economy intervention and including the AEA in the membership of Regional Entrepreneurship Acceleration programme, REAP, being promote by Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT.
Mr Tukur said the Agency had been supporting thousands of entrepreneurs with access to finances and working space, market linkage, mentorship and capacity building.
He further mentioned continuous excellent support services covering Entrepreneurship and ICT training, Business Advisory, policy advocacy, microcredit and business expansion support and Information Technology support.
The MD added that the agency is confident that the support would greatly assist in achieving the deliverables of the MIT- REAP which would promote the Agency’s goal for facilitating business growth and eradicating poverty in Nigeria.
While commending DG of NITDA for gracing the closing ceremony of AEA skill acquisition training on photography and cinematography, Mr Tukur noted that the participation of NITDA boss provided insight into opportunities that abound in ICT sector.
The MD of AEA also presented an Award of Appreciation to DG of NITDA for his contributions in harnessing the growth and development of IT in Nigeria.
