E-Business
NITDA DG Restates FG’s Commitment to Digital Entrepreneurship among Youths
Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, director-general of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), has reiterated that the federal government commitment to implementing policies and initiatives to improve digital entrepreneurship and boost start-up business among the youth, especially tertiary education students in the country.
Abdullahi, said this in his keynote address during the opening of the National Innovation, Research and Software Summit (Innovation Challenge 2021) organised by the National Association of Computing Students (NACOS) in collaboration with the Financial Services Innovators (FSI) tagged “TechonDemand Hackathon”.
Speaking on the theme “Technology Renaissance For Innovation and Productivity” during the event held at the Nile University of Nigeria in Abuja, the NITDA boss encouraged the youth to make impact by turning their innovations into products and services that can be commercialised.
“We have so many initiatives to help those with ideas to develop soft skills, to expose them to networks, to ecosystems and access to funding. We want to challenge the Nigerian youth to come up with solutions to the problems of the country. This is the only way to create prosperity,” he said.
He said further that the President Muhammadu Buhari’s government through infrastructure and policies was diversifying the economy by creating the enabling environment for the youth to thrive in their software development and create indigenous content.
He said the agency was collaborating with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and other agencies of government to get funds for the youth to develop their products, adding that they are working with universities to develop and build start-ups.
He said that COVID-19 pandemic has provided a “golden opportunity for Nigerian youths to use technology to come up with new businesses, products and services”, adding that the NITDA Action Plan 2021-2024- has mapped out these strategies through its developmental initiative, which the youth can key into.
Professor Adesina Sodiya, president of the Nigerian Computer Society (NCS), in his remarks noted that the NCS remains committed to promoting rapid national growth by providing necessary technical and professional support to technology providers.
Olamilekan Toyeeb Abolade, national president of NACOS, in his welcome address, said the innovation challenge is to develop an interconnected, integrated and all-inclusive ecosystem of the Nigerian citizens with the requisite services that enable individuals, retailers, small businesses to transact with one another seamlessly daily using digital channels.
“Our primary goal is to empower a new crop of innovative and creative young men and women, who will add technological value to every sector of the economy and solve real-life problems.
“We are geared towards building a generation of new technoprenuers, entrepreneurs, software developers and an army of skilled and employable young people matching industry needs in priority sectors,” he said.
Gartner predicts that by 2028, 75 percent of enterprise software engineers will use Artificial Intelligence (AI) code assistants, up from less than 10 percent, currently.
According to a Gartner poll of 598 global respondents conducted in the third quarter of 2023, 63 percent of organisations are now testing, deploying, or have previously implemented AI code assistants.
AI code assistants provide for more capabilities than only code development and completion, notes the research firm.
According to Gartner, the use of AI code assistants can lead to higher work satisfaction and retention, resulting in lower turnover costs.
Philip Walsh, senior principal analyst at Gartner, comments: “Software engineering leaders must determine ROI and build a business case as they scale their rollouts of AI code assistants.
“However, traditional ROI frameworks steer engineering leaders toward metrics centred on cost reduction. This narrow perspective fails to capture the full value of AI code assistants.”
Gartner notes that software engineering leaders must “reframe the ROI conversation from cost reduction to value generations”.
Walsh adds: “Calculating time savings on code generation is a good place to begin building a more robust value story. To convey the full enterprise value story for AI code assistants, software engineering leaders should connect value enablers to impacts, and then analyse the overall return to the organisation.”
National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has said that the planned national ID card will be issued to applicants by their banks.
NIMC said it is working with the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) to deliver the cards to applicants.
“The card will be issued through the applicants’ respective banks in line with existing protocols with the issuance of the Debit/Credit cards,” the agency said at the weekend update on its official X handle.
KEY FACTS ABOUT THE PROPOSED NEW GENERAL MULTIPURPOSE NATIONAL IDENTITY CARD
- The new National ID Card is a single, convenient, and General multipurpose card (GMPC) , eliminating the need for multiple cards—not three.
- The single GMPC has multiple use cases:…
— NIMC (@nimc_ng) April 12, 2024
It said applicants need to request their cards with their NIN “through the self-service online portal, NIMC offices, or their respective banks”.
“The card will be powered by the AFRIGO card scheme, an indigenous scheme powered by NIBSS,” NIMC said.
“The card can be picked up by holders at the designated center or delivered to the applicants at the requested location at an extra cost to be borne by the applicants,” the update read.
National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has said that the new national Identity card, powered by AfriGo Card, is a single card with multiple services.
NIMC made the clarification against the confusion and criticisms that have trailed the AfriGo Card , touted as a National Domestic Card Scheme.
NIMC is launching the AfriGo Card, in collaboration with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigeria Inter-bank Settlement System (NIBSS), and has had appointed SecureID, a Lagos headquartered company to manufacture the Card Scheme
Making clarification on the card, Kayode Adegoke, head of Corporate Communications of the NIMC, said the General multipurpose card (GMPC) will eliminate the need for multiple cards.
“The new National ID Card is a single, convenient, and General multi-purpose card (GMPC), eliminating the need for multiple cards—not three.
“The single GMPC has multiple use cases: Payments/Financial, Government intervention/services, travel, etc.
“The National Identity Management Commission is working with the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System to deliver the payment and financial use cases.
“The card will be powered by the AFRIGO card scheme, an indigenous scheme powered by NIBSS. Applicants for the card will have to request with their NIN through the self-service online portal, NIMC offices, or their respective banks.
“The card will be issued through the applicants’ respective banks, in line with existing protocols with the issuance of the Debit/Credit cards.
“The card can be picked up by holders at the designated centre or delivered to the applicants at the requested location at an extra cost to be borne by the applicants,” he said.
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