Telecom
Digital Economy: NITDA Assures e-Business Industry Heads of Public Private Partnership
In line with the implementation of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS), the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), has assured the Committee of e-Business Industry Heads (CeBIH) of its commitment towards employing Public, Private Partnership (PPP) to facilitate a seamless integration towards achieving a digital Nigeria.
L-R: Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, Director General of NITDA with Mr Adeyemi Atanda and DG NITDA, Chairman of Committee of e-Business Industry Heads (CeBIH) durin a familiarisation visit to NITDA’s Corporate Headquarters in Abuja.
Mallam Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, director general of NITDA, made the assurance when he received team of CeBIH, led by their Chairman Mr Adeyemi Atanda on a familiarisation visit to NITDA’s Corporate Headquarters in Abuja.
Abdullahi identified three things that drive digital economy as broad band penetration, digital Identity, and the payment system.
He explained that using digital devices to do financial transactions, makes work and life less stressful, increase productivity and creates opportunities to maximize time and energy.
He said, “NITDA is rebranding, its mission, vision, and core values have been changed recently to meet the present dynamics of world best standards, the Agency’s core values are People first; we exist to serve you, Innovation; we are disrupting conventionalism, quoting former Microsoft COO Bob Herbold, “disrupt your business before someone else does” and Professionalism; we want to put global best practices to use, we are setting standards for other Ministry, Departments, and Agency’s (MDAs) to follow.”
The DG further said, “Collaboration with CeBIH is critical, wet cannot do it alone, our mandate is so huge, so we are glad to partner with you to deliver service to Nigerians.
He added that NITDA is currently in collaboration with Microsoft, Cisco Systems, Inc., Mass Challenge, other private entities and government bodies like NNPC, CBN, etc to ensure 95% digital literacy by 2030.
While commending the CeBIH on its resolve to partner with NITDA, Abdullahi urged the team to adopt some of NITDA’s operating models.
He said, “to be innovative one must look outside the box. We challenge startups to come up with ideas that can resolve existing problems, you cannot allow someone to experiment in your life environment. Financial inclusion is key; therefore, it is important that we work together.
“There are several programs that we can partner on as identified in NITDA’s Strategic RoadMap and Action Plan (SRAP), there are 63 initiatives there” he said.
Advising on areas that NITDA and CeBIH can partner, he suggested that an innovation challenge can be organized with the Nigerian Tech and Innovation Ecosystem.
He also agreed that both organisations can collaborate on capacity building, cyber security and guaranteed that they would also be involved in the redraft of the 2007 NITDA Act bill.
“Our regulations are developmental, and we cannot be innovative within the confines of regulation.
“Our understanding of regulation is to unlock opportunities for you and protect consumers to create the enabling environment,” said the NITDA DG on the need for amendment of the 2007 NITDA Act bill.
According to the NITDA boss five main stakeholders were going to be engaged towards amendment of the bill, the higher institutions, the corporate organizations, the government, Venture Capital or Angel Investor and the Entrepreneur.
He mentioned areas where NITDA is currently engaging in capacity building especially with the use of mass open online courses platform, where so far 57,000 Nigerians have been trained and additional 6,625 individuals in 11 states across the nation, are currently being trained on productivity tool, digital content creation and digital marketing.
He said the new cyber security policy assigns certain roles to NITDA, one of which is setting standards and encouraging domestic solutions to cyber security challenges. This he believes is another area for partnership.
On his part, the Chairman Committee eBusiness Industry Heads, Mr Adeyemi Atanda while appreciating NITDA’s innovative contributions to a digital economy had identified key areas for collaboration on STEM boot camp program as facilitators to help enrich the curriculum, capacity building, cyber security, and being on board the stakeholder’s forum on the redraft of the NITDA Act Bill.
He maintained that innovation is the bedrock for all the things done in the banking sector, “we want these innovations to have a direct impact on the Nigerian economy”.
Hotspot, Nigerian last-mile connectivity and tower operator, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a consortium led by Clear Blue Technologies, solar-power company to deploy 312 solar powered mobile sites across Nigeria.
Under the deal signed earlier this week at Mobile World Congress 2025, the sites will feature Clear Blue’s Illumience Smart Power solar solution designed for telecoms infrastructure.
The Clear Blue consortium also includes Empower New Energy, which provides clean energy project financing across Africa, and Netis, which specialises in operating and managing telecom infrastructure and will the installation, operations, and maintenance services for the project.
Miriam Tuerk, CEO, Clear Blue, said the consortium has the expert skills and capabilities to quickly design, build and operate the network, solar power and tower sites.
“As everyone active in the telecom market in Africa is aware, it is a difficult operating environment with challenging TCO targets. And yet, it is probably the largest untapped telecom market in the world with significant growth potential”, said, Morenikeji Aniye, CEO, Hotspot.
“Clear Blue brings an innovative technology and service capability which, together with an innovative business model and structure, enables us to deploy and operate these sites while meeting stringent service and TCO targets.”
Clear Blue noted that the deal is subject to final contract negotiations and signatures.
Assuming everything goes according to plan, Hotspot will roll out the solar-powered sites at the end of this year.
Technology company, Globacom, has been experiencing substantial increase in the adoption of its Bulk Data services by enterprise clients. This surge reinforces the appeal of Glo’s innovative data solution among corporate organizations, schools, and tertiary institutions.
Glo’s Bulk Data offering is a user-friendly self-service portal that enables enterprise customers to gift data to other customers. This feature allows sponsors to allocate specific data amounts for free navigation of mobile apps or websites, with the sponsor covering the costs.
The service is particularly beneficial for educational institutions, which can purchase the Schools’ Bucket Data plan for students’ academic usage, valid for 90 days.
The Gifted Data Plan on its part, is available for a 30 days validity and offers flexibility, allowing sponsors to gift data to multiple Glo subscribers in various sizes, ranging from 200MB to 10GB, depending on the Pack the Gifting customer has subscribed to.
Sponsors can also customize SMS notifications to beneficiaries, setting Glo’s product apart from others in the market. Beneficiaries can easily check their balance by dialing *127*0# on their devices.
Glo’s Bulk Data service has become an attractive solution for enterprise clients seeking efficient data management, thanks to its flexibility, customization options, and user-friendly features.
The Bulk Data service is designed specifically for bulk data buyers, including corporate entities, schools, and tertiary institutions.
MTN Nigeria, one of Africa’s leading ICT companies, has partnered with automobile giants, Nord and GAC Motors to reinforce its commitment to its local content policy and support made in Nigeria products.
MTN
This partnership involved the procurement of a combined total of 33 cars for MTN’s customer-facing teams in Lagos and the North, including 22 locally assembled vehicles from Nord and GAC Motors, highlighting a strong commitment to local manufacturing. The additional purchase of 11 other cars further strengthened this operational initiative. These cars, essential tools of trade, play a key role in MTN’s customer engagement strategy, allowing their teams to commute to the field easily to deliver on targets.
In July 2021, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) established the Nigeria Office for Developing the Indigenous Telecoms Sector (NIDOTS), an office charged with the primary responsibility of ensuring the promotion of indigenous content in the Nigerian telecoms sector, through the enforcement of the Nigerian National Local Content Policy. This national policy serves as the framework for MTN’s local content commitments, supporting the Nigerian Federal Government in developing sustainable local societies, while championing digital and financial inclusion.
At a handover ceremony held at MTN’s Lagos Headquarters, Lynda Saint Nwafor, Chief Enterprise Business Officer at MTN Nigeria, expatiated on MTN’s content policy and the relevance of this partnership. “At MTN, we maintain a stance on promoting local content development in Nigeria by enabling local supply chains through local procurement.”
Saint Nwafor further detailed how this partnership supports MTN’s logistics model: “We had some challenges over the years. The logistics model we initially wanted to adopt didn’t work, so we had to revert to the old model.
“This model allows our sales and client success teams to better commute to customer locations.”
MTN Nigeria remains committed to creating shared value and playing a positive and meaningful role in creating a sustainable and inclusive country.
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