Telecom
NITDA Reveals Gender Digital Inclusion Plan
In a bid to unlock the full potential of Nigeria’s digital economy and promote greater social and economic development for all Nigerians, the Director General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa, has revealed that the NITDA is currently prioritising the development of a Gender Digital Inclusion Strategy (DGIS).
Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, DG NITDA represented by Mrs Iklima Musa, Special Adviser to the DG on Strategy and Innovation at the United Nations International Women’s Day celebration organised by FGN Women Ambassadors Network.
Inuwa who was represented by his Special Assistant on Strategy and Innovation Mrs Iklima Musa Salihu, made this statement at the United Nations International Women’s Day celebration organised by FGN Women Ambassadors Network (FWAN-NET) in Abuja. The theme for this year’s celebration is “DigitALL: Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality.”
According to him, the strategy is to address the existing barriers that prevent women from fully participating in the IT sector and reaping the benefits of digital inclusion.
He said through the DGIS, NITDA plans to outline specific steps that will be taken to bridge this gap and ensure greater gender parity in Nigeria’s digital economy, by creating a more inclusive and diverse tech industry.
He noted that the Agency has identified innovation as a critical tool for implementing the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS), adding that it has the advantageous objective of bridging the digital gender gap by ensuring that the digital literacy and skills pillar incorporates children, women, internally displaced persons, and the physically challenged and aligns with the Agency’s mandate of empowering all Nigerian citizens with digital skills.
“In fulfilment of this strategy, we have taken many steps to drive our nation’s prosperity by boosting digital innovation for women, creating an enabling environment that maximises the potential of all Nigerian women, promoting their ability to contribute to the economy, and ensuring their improved quality of life and well-being,” he said.
While noting NITDA’s belief that technology can bridge these gaps as women have unequal access to the same economic opportunities as men, Inuwa said it was not surprising that Nigeria, as Africa’s most vibrant ecosystem, was making waves both within and outside the continent, attracting 22% (1.2B USD) of Africa’s total investment inflow in 2022.
Inuwa also celebrated Nigerian female talents such as Kemisola Bolarinwa, founder of Next Wear Technology, a wearable/fashion technology company that designs and develops technology including the Smart Bra for breast cancer detection which uses embedded programmable electronics and sensors on clothing to solve health, security, and communication problems.
He added that through the Office for Nigerian Digital Innovation (ONDI), the Agency has worked with its foreign-based collaborators to support 753 female and male-led start-ups through grants and sponsorships to local and global conferences and exhibitions, acceleration and incubation programmes.
“At NITDA, we have identified innovation as a critical tool for implementing the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS). Launched in 2019, the NDEPS provides a holistic and sustainable approach towards the development of Nigeria’s digital economy,” he stated.
He added that “NITDA’s deep commitment to fostering digital innovation among Nigerians is evident in several programmes and initiatives aimed at boosting the innovative capacity of our youths and women to ensure they receive the support they require.
“Through hackathons and innovation challenges, we have seen the conceptualisation of innovative ideas in an ecosystem that is primarily dominated by men, thus giving female innovators an equal opportunity. We also conducted capacity-building programmes on ICT and entrepreneurship for 360 women in various geopolitical zones,” he said.
Speaking on the Nigeria Startup Act, Inuwa said Nigeria’s tech ecosystem, the Presidency, and the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy come up with the idea of Nigeria Startup Bill, which was signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari, that will serve as the means in harnessing the potential of digital economy by providing an enabling environment that can foster the growth and development of innovation for local startups.
He said the regulation will put Nigeria in a position to take advantage of the African Digital Economy estimated to be worth 300B USD by 2025, as reported by McKinsey.
Inuwa expressed his deep concern that despite the remarkable progress made in the digital arena, there remains a striking absence of women’s representation.
He lamented the fact that women are still significantly underrepresented in digital spaces, despite their undeniable competence and potential to contribute immensely to the field.
He said there is need for concerted efforts to promote gender equality and inclusivity in the digital world, where all individuals, regardless of gender, can thrive and excel.
Users of satellite internet service provider Starlink in Nigeria are being required to complete a biometric Know Your Customer (KYC) process as a precondition to continue enjoying their services, according to .biometricupdate.
According to local reports, more than 66,000 Starlink subscribers in the country had a December 31 ultimatum from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to complete the biometric verification or have their connection discontinued.
The process essentially entails linking a Starlkink account with the subscriber’s national digital ID.
The NCC, which is Nigeria’s telecoms industry regulator, is said to have first issued the directive in August last year, setting a three-month deadline which was to elapse on November 19, TechCabal reports.
The body however later extended it to December 31 after consultations with industry stakeholders. The internet account-NIN linkage, the NCC said, is to enhance identity verification and strengthen security within the country’s telecoms space.
Just a few days to the December 31 deadline, Starlink’s Nigeria office sent an email to its subscribers reminding them of the KYC requirement, and warned that all those who fail to comply would be disconnected.
And that once disconnected, reconnection would depend on network capacity in the concerned area.
The service provider said in its email that the process takes less than two minutes and users can complete it by logging in to their account via an app.
One user, quoted by TechCabal, said one needs to upload their selfie biometrics, provide their national identification number (NIN) and then give their consent for the account to be linked to their ID information.
Starlink’s internet service is present in about 155 countries with nine million users, as of 2025. Its growth in Nigeria is said to be rapid, making it the second largest internet service provider in the country, according to The Traffic.
Biometric identification for Starlink subscribers could become a continent-wide trend given that some countries have expressed reservations in opening up their internet space to the company over security concerns.
There’ve been fears that jihadists in countries like Mali and Nigeria may have exploited Starlink terminals to coordinate terror operations, and cybersecurity experts have also warned of risks related to weak regulation, digital sovereignty and data breaches.
The requirement for Starlink internet users to have their accounts linked with the NIN is similar to the SIM-NIN linkage policy which the Nigerian government battled to implement for many years, with many deadline extensions.
In October last year, the NCC, which is was at the forefront of the policy implementation, announced that all active SIM cards across all network providers had complied with the directive which was issued in 2020.
The idea, the federal government argued, was to strengthen security and curb criminality such as kidnappings which are aided and abetted by improperly identified mobile phone numbers.
Mr. Kashifu Inuwa, Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), has urged Northern Nigeria to pivot urgently from traditional commerce to an innovation-driven digital economy for sustainable growth.
NITDA
Inuwa issued the call at the Future Map Foundation Roundtable 1.0 (North-West Edition) in Kano, attributing the region’s sluggish digital adoption not to talent deficits but to the lack of deliberate, coordinated strategies.
He stressed deeper collaboration across academia, private sector players, entrepreneurs, and government, positioning the private sector as the primary innovation engine while government supplies robust policies and an enabling ecosystem.
Inuwa advocated for people-focused, locally tailored innovations that tackle regional challenges head-on, enabling global competitiveness by transitioning from mere technology users to creators of homegrown solutions.
The roundtable convened policymakers, tech founders, and ecosystem stakeholders to forge a comprehensive roadmap for North-West digital transformation, yielding firm commitments to bolster regional innovation policies and public-private synergies.
Inuwa’s push dovetails seamlessly with the Federal Government’s Renewed Hope Agenda, which sets an ambitious target of 95 per cent nationwide digital literacy by 2030, fostering inclusive economic empowerment.
Participants hailed the forum as a pivotal step toward unlocking Northern Nigeria’s tech potential, with NITDA poised to lead implementation through strategic interventions and partnerships.
Samsung Electronics plans to double this year the number of its mobile devices with “Galaxy AI” features largely powered by Google’s Gemini, its co-CEO said, which would give the U.S. firm an edge over rivals as the global race in artificial intelligence heats up.
The South Korean company, which had rolled out Gemini-backed AI features to about 400 million mobile products, including smartphones and tablets, by last year, plans to boost that figure to 800 million in 2026.
“We will apply AI to all products, all functions, and all services as quickly as possible,” T M Roh told Reuters in his first interview since becoming Samsung Electronics co-CEO in November.
The plan by the world’s largest backer of Google’s Android mobile platform is set to give a major boost to its developer Google, which is locked in a race with OpenAI and others to attract more consumer users to their AI model.
Samsung seeks to reclaim its lost crown from Apple in the smartphone market and fend off competition from Chinese rivals not only in mobile telephones, but televisions and home appliances, all overseen by Roh.
It will offer integrated AI services across consumer products to widen its lead over Apple in such features, though the latter was set to be the top smartphone maker last year, according to market researcher Counterpoint.
AI Race
Alphabet’s Google launched the latest version of Gemini in November, highlighting Gemini 3’s lead on several popular industry measures of AI model performance.
In response to Gemini 3, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman reportedly issued an internal “code red,” pausing non-core projects and redirecting teams to accelerate development. The ChatGPT maker launched its GPT-5.2 AI model a few weeks later.
Roh expects the adoption of AI to accelerate, as Samsung’s surveys on awareness of its Galaxy AI brand jumped to a level of 80% from about 30% in just one year.
“Even though the AI technology might seem a bit doubtful right now, within six months to a year, these technologies will become more widespread,” he said.
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