e-Nigeria 2016: NITDA sets up LOC

ITRealms:

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has set up the Local Organising Committee (LOC) for the 9th eNigeria Conference and Expo, the flagship ICT event under the auspice of the Federal Republic of Nigeria organised by the agency, reports ITRealms.

The acting Director General of the NITDA, Dr. Vincent Olatunji, said  the event has gone full circle to become the clearinghouse for adopting relevant ideas and innovation for defining and accelerating national economic growth.

“It is in this line that this year’s theme is ‘Leveraging on IT Innovation for Economic Diversification’ to identify with the current goals of the Nigerian government to diversify the economy; cope with the rapid dwindling revenues from the oil sector; and create a new vista of revenue directly through ICT or by using ICT to aid other non-oil sectors,” said Dr Olatunji who was represented by the deputy director of Corporate Strategy and Research, Mr. Mohammad Idris Yelwa.

Head, Corporate Affairs, NITDA, Mrs. Hadiza Umar, in a press statement available to ITRealms, said that the eNigeria 2016 is scheduled for 22nd -24th November, 2016 at the International Conference Centre (ICC), Abuja. It is expected to attract key players of the Nigerian innovation ecosystem and foreign stakeholders together to share experiences, identify challenges and propose strategies for using ICT-enabled innovation and entrepreneurship to diversify the economy and create jobs.

She also highlighted one of the eNigeria 2016 is the section on Startups and Innovation to underscore NITDA’s new work-thrust to promote Nigeria’s startup innovation ecosystem across all the country’s zones and also attract potential investors into this vital growth segment of the global ICT economy.

“We are inviting innovation efforts from within Africa to come peer with local innovation efforts and also inviting global stakeholders, particularly angel investors and promoters of innovator hubs to be part of the 2016 eNigeria as we in NITDA firm up to promote the national agenda on economic diversification,” Dr. Olatunji was quoted as saying while tasking LOC members to ensure a successful event.

eNigeria, Olatunji said, has become a flagship conference and expo and this year, the NITDA plans to have global and local players with strong startup-pull such as Uber, Facebook, Jumia, Konga and the likes to join the league of participants at the event.

NITDA will also be leveraging on its local and international collaborations such as its partnership with the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) organizers of Gitex Technology Week to thicken the quality of participation at eNigeria, said Olatunji.

The LOC has sub-committees that include Paper presentation, exhibition and fundraising, media and publicity, and startups, among others to help effective preparation for the event. The membership of the LOC is drawn from various bodies, including the Nigeria Computer Society, representatives of relevant government ministries, departments and agencies, the media, interest groups and other stakeholders.

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Nigeria seeks ICT as alternative revenue source @CeBIT-16

ITRealms:

The Nigerian delegation to the 2016 CeBIT led by the Acting Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Dr. Vincent Olatunji, is seeking alternative revenue in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector, reports ITRealms.

Olatunji, who represented the Honourable Minister of Communication, Barrister Adebayo Shittu made this disclosure at a meeting with the management of Deutsche Messe, organisers of CeBIT, to explore ways of collaboration and how Nigeria as a country can actively play and participate at CeBIT.

Dr. Olatunji told the organisers that Nigeria is looking towards ICT as a very good avenue to tap into so as to shore up her revenue inflow especially as price of oil is falling at the international market.

Having explained that the Honourable Minister would have personally attended CeBIT 2016 but was engaged in another international programme on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria, Dr. Olatunji told his hosts:

“One unique feature of Nigeria is a huge population of nearly 180 million people who are very IT savvy. And, currently the government is looking for alternative revenue channels to oil, hence the government is ready to support the activities focused on ICT.

“And, backing up the government’s efforts, stakeholders in the private sector are coming up with various solutions,” he stated, adding:

“So, I think CeBIT is the platform where we can really showcase and promote what we have; and even look for markets for what we have in Nigeria; look for investors for the young innovators that are coming up; investors that will say if I put in this amount of money in this idea or solution, in the next five or 10 years, this is what will likely be the turnover for me.”

Explaining the uniqueness of Africa’s largest economy, Dr. Olatunji said:

“Because the market in Nigeria alone is enough to convince an investor to say I really must go into this market; Nigeria is like putting five to six countries in Africa into one country, because of the population. And a very high percentage of the population are the youths, and they are really ready and willing to adopt and use ICT.

“So next year, yes, we are willing to work with you; we are willing to partner with you. And, I am happy that our very important personalities in the government, from the National Assembly, are here with us.

“In fact, their presence is a clear testimony to government’s overall preparedness and willingness to adopt ICT as a reliable alternative to oil for economic growth, for earning foreign exchange and for growing a self-reliant population.

“We are glad to further assure you that we will work with you on the part of the Agency in implementing government’s policies in the area of ICT development in Nigeria.

“For CeBIT 2017, we will start working towards it immediately; we will not wait till close to 2017 before making the moves. In particular, we are very keen on working to bring our young innovators to CeBIT 2017 as a country, among other key areas to showcase.”

Also speaking, the chairman, House of Representatives Committee on ICT, Honourable Mohammed Onawo, said, he was impressed with attendance and what he has seen at CeBIT.

“While we were going round on the guided tour, we visited SAP; and they demonstrated to us software where everything that is done in government can easily be monitored. I was excited about that; because what makes most of our governments fail in the Third World is lack of proper monitoring.

“For instance when budgets are not monitored, a lot of things are done under assumptions; results are not achieved at the end of the day. And, I will really want to take that back home.”

For the chairman, Senate Committee on ICT, Senator Abdulfatai Buhari, the opportunity of being at CeBIT 2016 is really commendable.

“I compare it to what happened in my country some months ago – and I thought if the guy in question was in Europe or America probably investors would have identified his talent.

“This Nigerian in a rural area in the country, manufactured an aircraft, and everybody watched in amazement; and, like a joke, he was able to fly the aircraft. He tried it once; the second time, it landed on water. When he was interviewed, he said that is IT (information technology). But if nobody identifies him that’s how he could remain with his initiative.

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Pix: Nigeria delegation to CeBIT 2016

NITDA trains 50 unemployed graduates on OBPO

ITRealms:

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), has commenced training of 50 unemployed graduates on Online Business Process Outsourcing (OBPO), reports ITRealms. 

Online Business Process Outsourcing is usually available jobs online that could execute from any location via digital device like computer or smartphone as long as the device is connected to the internet.

Declaring the training open on Monday, the Acting Director-General, NITDA, Dr. Vincent Olatunji, informed participants drawn from the six geo-political zones in the country, that the training aligned with NITDA’s mandate, stressing they are more repositioned to training unemployed Nigerians who will be able to compete with others globally. 

“I am excited to declare this training open, which is the second in less than two weeks. I was here two weeks ago to declare open a training for people with disabilities and now with able people. What we are doing is to affect the lives of every Nigerian irrespective of status. We are to develop a globally competitive human capital with the aims of equipping them with training to make them globally employable,” Dr. Olatunji said.

He also pointed out that the world of work is changing and there is need to realign the nation’s workforce and labour market to this change, emphasizing that geographical locations are no longer hindrance to job hunt any longer with online Business Process Outsourcing. 

Additionally, Dr. Olatunji said that not adopting the Online Business Process Outsourcing platform has dire effects on the nation’s economy, maintaining that leveraging on the platform would make diversification of economy achievable as it would attract foreign flows of income into the country.

He listed the deliverables of the Online Business Process Outsourcing to include, freedom to choose what to do; who you want to do it with; where you want to work; consistent income; access to basic need of life and social relevance.

He advised the beneficiaries of the training to value it as key in helping them to achieve crescendo, declaring, “Only if you know this training this training can help you reach your goal of sufficiency and less dependence on the white collar jobs.”

The Director, Software and Outsourcing, Mr. Chris Okeke admonished participants to see future in the Online Business Outsourcing and make it a spring board of becoming employers of labours themselves in the near future. 

ITRealms gathered that NITDA promised to reward three outstanding trainees with a laptop each to complement with the knowledge acquired, just as it urged them to put whatever they have learnt in practice as there are mechanism put in place to measure their performances.

 


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Shittu suspends Peter Jack, DG NITDA over misconduct

ITRealms:

... Names Olatunji acting DG

The Minister of Communications, Mr. Adebayo Shittu has suspended the Director-General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Mr. Peter Jack over an alleged misconduct, just as Dr. Vincent Olatunji has been appointed in acting capacity with immediate effect, reports ITRealms.

The Special Assistant Media to the Communications Minister, Mr. Vcitor Oluwadamilare confirmed this to ITRealms in a press statement Wednesday evening, saying that Mr. Jack’s suspension from office was indefinitely.

He explained that the suspension adduces its strength from avalanche of petitions in NITDA and subsequent preliminary findings of an Investigative Committee set up by the Ministry.

Oluwadamilare also said that these petitions against Mr. Jack are largely connected to illegal employments and procurements carried out allegedly in direct contraventions of civil service rules and procedure in the country.

Also, he explained that some of the findings of the Investigative Committee made up of three senior Ministry officials include unauthorised recruitment exercise of additional staff numbering 245 within the last seven months.

“As at 29th May 2015, NITDA only had a staff complement of 74. But from May, 2015 to 31st December, 2015, additional 245 staff were employed in questionable circumstances despite clear instruction from the Ministry directing suspension of employment in the agency,” the SA declared. 

He further said that these disclosures were deduced from the records provided by Mr. Jack, while he was unable to provide concrete evidence on whose authority the recruitment was embarked on and who granted him the authority for officials to be seconded to NITDA from other Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs).

ITRealms gathered that the Ministry of Communications reportedly directed Mr. Jack to eschew the purported recruitment exercise held on 17th December, 2015, which was not adhered to under his leadership as Director-General.

In addition, he said, on alleged financial misdemeanour, the Committee had recommended the suspension to afford a thorough professional auditing of NITDA’s finances to determine the true state of the financial health of the agency.

In a related development, the Director, Corporate Strategy and Research, Dr. Vincent Olatunji, who has spent over 14 years in NITDA has been named the acting Director-General of the agency also with immediate effect, pending the outcome of the intended investigations.

+ITRealms DSA 

 

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NITDA awards ICT Innovation prizes to remarkable NYSC members

ITRealms:

The Office for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Innovation and Entrepreneurship (OIIE), an affiliate of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), has awarded prizes for ICT innovation to remarkable National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) members, reports ITRealms.

The winners who got grants for idea development are Opaluwa John and Awulona Obinna with “MyDriver”, Temiloluwa Adesina with “A School in A Box” and Gorah Ayodele and Aluko Fikunayomi with “HIV Diagnosticare” just as consolation prizes and certificates of participation were issued to 13 teams of corp members, shortlisted for the final round of the competition.

ITRealms gathered that the presentation held in Abuja saw the top five winners receiving the Idea Development Grant to produce the prototype of their ideas. 

Speaking at the occasion, Director-General, NITDA, Mr. Peter Jack stressed the importance of ICT as an enabler for creating jobs and wealth, stressing “The top two richest men in the world (Bill Gates and Carlos Slim) derived their wealth from ICT. We are committed with new zeal to accelerate IT development across the country, especially ICT innovation and entrepreneurship. To spearhead the innovation, we established the Office for ICT Innovation and Entrepreneurship. We are pleased at the pace of work and programs emerging from this subsidiary.”

He expressed satisfaction at the level of collaboration between NYSC and NITDA under the leadership of the Director-General, NYSC, Brigadier-General Johnson Bamidele Olawumi.

The National Coordinator, OIIE, Mr. Bunmi Okunowo said, “OIIE will leverage on its network of incubators to monitor, support and encourage the corp members to build their ideas into prototype and then begin to build a product out of it. The programme, which kicked off in November 2015, is to attract corp members who have innovative ICT ideas or ICT-driven businesses that can become a successful business within one to two years.”

He also said that under this programme, NITDA is fostering the creation of new ICT businesses by corp members thereby reducing the high rate of unemployment amongst them. Emphasising that this is a conveyor belt-type of programme for the corp members; supporting them from an ideation to a prototype development to an earliest version of the ICT product or service. We are doing all these for them during their service year in partnership with our network of incubators, angel investors, talent developers, NYSC skill acquisition and entrepreneurship development (SAED) department of NYSC,” he said.

 

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Pix: L-R: Camp Director, FCT NYSC Orientation Camp, Mrs. Iruma Blessing, Opaluwa Ojochogwu (corps member and joint first prize winner), Deputy Director, Multi Stakeholders partnership, National Information Technology Development Agency [NITDA], John Chima, Awulonu Stephen (corps member and joint first prize winner) of N250,000 in the NITDA NYSC ICT Innovation & Entrepreneurship Programme for Corp Member, Chinyere Ekwe and National Coordinator, Office of ICT Innovation& Entrepreneurship of NITDA, Bunmi Okunowo during the presentation ceremony held at the parade ground in Abuja on Wednesday

Oracle to partner NITDA, Galaxy Backbone to drive government transparency agenda

ITRealms:

The Chief Executive Officer, Oracle Technologies, Adebayo Sani, has said that his company has plans to partner with the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and other relevant agencies to ensure the application of technology to drive present government transparency agenda, ITRealms reports.

Adebayo was speaking at the 2015 Oracle Cloud Day, Tuesday, in Lagos. He pointed out that such agency and organisation as NITDA and Galaxy Backbone which assist government in the formulation of technology policies are key to Oracle Cloud technology transition leadership roadmap.

He went further to say that his company has achieved a record 33 billion daily transaction globally, saying that Oracle Cloud has 19 data centres across 190 countries which is geared toward enhancing better service delivery to the teeming customers.

“We’ve seen growth in our leadership capacity in three key areas which include software as a service, platform as a service and infrastructure as a service,” adding that Oracle Cloud is tailored towards business agility, cost effectiveness, less complexity while not relegating security as uppermost in the company’s strategy. He also said it is only Oracle Cloud that has the ability to move customers from On Premise to Cloud and back to private depending on customer choice”.

“Today, the cost of technology is no longer considered an issue for any company that wants to use IT to drive business innovation. CEOs need to strive for agility irrespective of the size of their organization; to remain progressive and forward-thinking, despite how they may perceive their company today in an ever-changing competitive landscape; and to have a team that is really focused on using IT as an innovation driver in every part of their business,” Sani said.

“Now in its fourth year, Oracle Cloud Day, formerly Oracle Day, has been a tremendous success in Nigeria and provided a valuable opportunity for our customers, partners and prospects to gain insight into the technologies that are transforming business. In the cloud we are seeing a generational shift in computing as significant as the shift to personal computing was forty years ago,”

Cyriacus Nnaji/ED,OPs

 
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