Telecom
NITDA DG Urges Kano and Jigawa State to Harness Youth Population for Economic Recovery
Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, director general, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), firmly believe that the ever-growing youthful population of Kano and Jigawa can be a source of blessing of Nigeria if carefully harnessed.
Abdullahi stated this during a presentation at Zoom Webinar organised by Network for Development Foundation, with the theme: Economic Recovery of Kano and Jigawa States Post-COVID19 Pandemic.
He said that the ever-growing youthful population of both states can be a source of blessing if properly harnessed.
He affirmed that if government leverage on the potential of the digital economy to exist, it can also recover from this pandemic, as well as create a sustainable environment to survive and thrive in the post-pandemicera.
Abdullahi further noted that COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown have changed people’s needs and wants as individuals, communities, and governments. To survive and thrive in the post-pandemic, there is need to reassess and redefine value proposition.
The pandemic has caused an unprecedented upheaval across all industries, with commerce, transport, oil and gas, badly hit. These industries provide a lifeline to the economy in Kano and Jigawa.
He said, COVID-19 has triggered the deepest global recession since the great depression, as data available released by World Bank. The Bank predicted that the Global Economy would shrink by 5.2%as a result of the pandemic, which is about 7.4T USD. Even though the ultimate impact is still uncertain, the pandemic has resulted in contractions across the world. Nigeria is not an exception. A survey carried out by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shows that many citizens are concerned about their lives and livelihoods. 78% of the respondents were worried about their health while 92% saw the pandemic as a threat to their source of livelihood.
“Crises are recurring events in human history. Some are less severe; others change legislations, world politics, our perception of the status quo, and people’s lives.
“Humanity had overcome crises like the black plague and Spanish flue before. Therefore, I believe that we will overcome this pandemicas well, and we will come out of it stronger,” he added.
Abdullahi also highlighted some key achievement so far recorded by the Agency, which includes among others, soon to be commissioning of NITDA Northwest Zonal Office situated in Kano.
The office is equipped with state of the art training facilities to train teeming youths from the North West region on digital skills. The training is for all, including facilities for people living with disability, artisans, students and young entrepreneurs.
In Jigawa State, according to Abdullahi, the Agency has a strong partnership with the State Governor,Alhaji Muhammad Badaru Abubakar, MON.
“We have executed several projects in Jigawa State, we are building ICT Community Centers in the three senatorial districts to engage and train our youth on emerging technologies and entrepreneurship.
“Also, we have engaged 135 farmers for smart farming aimed at revolutionizing the state agriculture value chain. The initiative, National Adopted Village for Smart Agriculture, NAVSA, is an ecosystem-driven digital platform for transforming the agriculture sector in Nigeria. It was designed to help farmers, agricultural stakeholders, and ecosystem players navigate their journey across the agriculture value chain from farm production to farm management, processing, harvesting, storage, marketing, and consumption.
“The project comes with tailored empowerment and sustainable business models that create diverse opportunities for the agriculture value chain that never existed in our country before. But it was tested and working well in a country like the Netherlands.
“The Netherlands, when compared with Kano and Jigawa combined, has similarities in population and landmass. Kano and Jigawa combined have a population of about 18.5M, and the Netherlands has about 17M people, inland mass, the two states are about 43,000KM2 while the Netherlands is about 40,000KM2.
“But, the Netherlands earning from agriculture export in 2019 was 94.5B Euros, which is equivalent to $106.36B USD, while Nigerian earning from oil and gas export in the same year was 5.18B USD. That is the power of smart precision and digital technology in agriculture,” the DG said
As indicated in Mr President’s 2020 Democracy Day Speech, the Digital Economy is critical to Nigeria’s development agenda.
The journey to digital economy started On 23rd October 2019, when President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, re-designatedMinistry of Communications to Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy to drive the positive impact of the digital economy in every sector of the economy.
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.
MENXTT NG, a leading technology distributor, has announced plans to bundle Bitdefender Antivirus software with all laptops sold in Nigeria starting 2026, aiming to enhance cybersecurity for consumers and businesses.
MENXTT NG
As an authorised reseller of Bitdefender, the company said the initiative would ensure devices meet global security standards right from purchase, addressing rising cyber threats in personal, educational, and corporate sectors.
Bitdefender, a globally recognised antivirus solution, offers advanced threat detection against viruses, malware, ransomware, spyware, and phishing; lightweight performance without impacting device speed; multi-layered ransomware protection; safe browsing features; and certifications from independent testing bodies.
Anthony Emeka Nwosu, Co-Founder of MENXTT NG, stated: “At MENXTT NG, we pride ourselves on offering some of the best laptops, smartphones, and gadgets in the market.
“These devices power businesses, education, and daily life, and it is only right that they are properly protected. By partnering with Bitdefender, we are ensuring our customers enjoy world-class security alongside world-class devices.”
The move, according to industry analysts, positions MENXTT NG as a solutions provider in Nigeria’s tech market, bridging global best practices with local needs amid accelerating digital adoption.
MENXTT NG described the bundling as part of its strategy to deliver complete technology solutions and build customer trust.
For enquiries: +234 814 090 2614; www.menxtt.cm.ng; [email protected].
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