NITDA, Plateau to develop IT policy

The National Information Technology Development Agency and the Plateau State Government have resolved to work together to develop an Information Technology policy and development strategy.

They made the resolve when the Deputy Governor of the state, Prof. Sonni Tyoden, led a delegation from the state on a working visit to the Director-General of NITDA, Dr. Vincent Olatunji, in Abuja.

Olatunji, who pledged that the document would be ready in three months, said the policy would focus on deploying Information Technology for the realisation of the potential of the state.

He urged the state government to ensure the inauguration of a body that would oversee the implementation of the policy.

Tyoden said the partnership with the NITDA was strategic to the state in view of the current move of the state and the country towards diversification of the economy.

Similarly, the NITDA and a World Bank subsidiary, Growth and Employment in States, have met to explore areas of collaboration and to come up with a draft Memorandum of Understanding for the development of Information and Communications Technology skills among Nigerians.

The draft MoU will include the rights and obligations of the parties for implementing GEMS programme that will cover areas such as software testing, professional certification programmes, software apps, e-Commerce mobile apps, Business Process Outsourcing, among others.

At the meeting held in the NITDA headquarters, Olatunji informed the World Bank team that the present administration had the political will to drive the successful implementation of the programme.

He said, “The political will of this administration is working for us in the ICT sector because the government is looking for a means of diversifying the economy and the ICT sector has been identified as one of the areas that we can tap into.

“There is assurance from the government on this. The minister with supervision from the Office of the Vice President is committed to ensuring that ICT drives the country’s economy.”

Olatunji said the government was now more focused to reposition ICT as the next cash cow of the country and this informed the decision to establish 12 innovation hubs across the six geo political zones.

The NITDA boss told the World Bank delegates that the innovation hubs were established specifically to come up with ICT solutions that are peculiar to the challenges and needs of each zone.