National Information Technology Development Agency Director-General Mallam Kashifu Inuwa said that the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, with its collaboration with its parastatals and stakeholders, has contributed 17.09 per cent to the Nigerian GDP in the second quarter of 2021 in the digital economy sector.
He delivered the news through a statement issued by the spokesperson of the agency, Hadiza Umar, in a paper titled “The Nigerian Digital Architecture: The Journey So Far”, presented at the World Fintech Festival 2021. The event was jointly hosted by Nigeria and Singapore.
Mr Inuwa was represented at the event by the agency’s director of e-government development and regulations, Dr Vincent Olatunji.
The statement reads: “The digital economy, from Nigeria’s perspectives, revolves around the utilization of digital transformation, knowledge and technology to deliver goods and services, economy that drives on the Fourth Industrial Revolution, (4IR), convergence of all sets of digital innovation that drives social-economic development and economic output created from digital technologies and innovations.”
According to the director-general, the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) was launched to help reposition the Nigerian Economy and take advantage of digital technologies.
He asserted that the eight pillars of NDEPS were in line with the Federal Government’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan while also addressing the three key focus areas of President Muhammadu Buhari.
He then concluded that the “digital economy continues to play an important role” in the agency’s developmental agenda as it moves “into the age of artificial intelligence”.
