Capacity building is being upgraded by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) through training and research in government agencies to boost information and communications technology (ICT).
This is to enable Nigeria level up with governments and people across the world who are digitalising economies anchored on ICT.
Part of the NITDA’s mandate is to develop ICT, which it carries out through training Nigerians across all social strata and investing in research to increase knowledge of ICT innovations, especially in software development.
NITDA Director General, Peter Jack, reiterated in Abuja that its Act mandates it to assist the government and companies to improve processes and product quality.
To fast track technology, he said the agency will this year raise the bar with its training programmes.
The training focus is also seen in programmes such as technology incubation, rural ICT, ICT clusters, and other IT networks intended to stimulate growth in the sector.
Jack explained that “e-government and innovation can provide significant opportunities to transform public administration into an instrument of sustainable development.
“The opportunities offered by the digital development of recent years, whether through online services, big data, social media, mobile apps, or cloud computing, are expanding the way we look at e-government.
“While e-government still includes electronic interactions of three types – government-to-government (G2G), government-to-business (G2B), and government-to-consumer (G2C) – a more holistic and multi-stakeholder approach is taking shape.”
Taking a cue from the United Nations (UN) report, Jack added: “Through innovation and e-government, public administrations around the world can be more efficient, provide better services and respond to demands for transparency and accountability.
“e-government can help governments go green and promote effective natural resource management, as well as stimulate economic growth and promote social inclusion, particularly of disadvantaged and vulnerable groups.”
According to him, the NITDA takes capacity building in government circles seriously, in order for Nigeria to key into the UN agenda and to also facilitate President Goodluck Jonathan’s transformation agenda.
The agency plans to establish research fund to sponsor research by Nigerian scholars and educational institutions across the world that focus on developing Nigeria IT.
Jack said as the NITDA provides incentives to encourage the use of IT in all spheres of life, it is also the key driver of e-government as it continues to show commitment to its objectives.
He noted that the consistency of NITDA in ensuring that the government and its agencies adopt transparency has saved huge amounts of money.
Through education, encouragement, training and deployment of appropriate technical know-how, the NITDA has moved away from policy initiation to implementation.
Today, e-government is catching on in the operations of government and how it interfaces with the people through tools like travel documents, voting arrangements, national identification, drivers’ licence, et cetera.
The NITDA also develops guidelines for electronic governance and monitors the use of electronic data interchange and other forms of electronic communication transactions as an alternative to paper-based methods.
