Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa, has charged technology ecosystem’s experts and start-ups to work closely with the government on co-creating robust regulations that will advance human and infrastructure development needed to unlock Africa’s huge potential for sustainable development.
Inuwa gave this charge at the second edition of the annual Moonshot Tech Conference 2024 which featured the brightest minds in the African tech space at the Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos State.
Speaking as a panellist at the conference, which availed the experts in the continent the opportunity to network, collaborate and share insights, the NITDA boss, in his paper titled ‘Building Digital Economies for the World: How African Countries are Shaping their Tech Economies to Compete Across the Continent and Globally’ highlighted the importance of balancing innovation and regulation, explaining that innovation involves turning ideas into impactful solutions.
However, the industry expert noted that while innovation thrived on creativity, regulation must act as a guardrail to ensure stability.
He said: “At NITDA, we developed an intelligent regulatory framework that will help us understand the terrain before placing regulations. A regulation that will make us intelligent, understand what you are trying build, understand the value you are bringing to the market and dynamic because we need to create that room for people to navigate.”
Inuwa’s position touched on the vital role of collaboration between governments and the private sector to unlock local human capital in the continent while pointing out that Africa’s greatest asset in the tech ecosystem is its human capital.
The Director-General further clarified: “According to the World Bank report, by the year 2030, there would be 85 million talent deficits globally which if left unharnessed, could lead to $8.5 trillion in unrealised annual value.”
“So, in Africa, looking at our young population, we can harness that population and position ourselves to become the global talent factory to bridge this gap deficit”, he added.
While stressing the need for governments in Africa to enlighten people on the potential of the technology ecosystem not just for solving local problems but global challenges, Inuwa noted that the Nigeria Startup Act was co-created with the tech ecosystem with a focus to encourage venture capital, registration of innovation hubs and forming a council to promote local capital investments.
To strengthen Africa’s digital economy, he canvassed the “need to build the digital infrastructure that will allow us to share content within Africa and foster data flow across borders.”
Other co-panellists who shared valuable insights alongside Inuwa were the CEO, Ghana Chamber of Technology, Dr Augustina Odame, the Chief Advisor Technology, Sierra Leone, David Manley; and the Director of Innovation, Ministry of Digital Transformation, Mauritania, Marieme Kane.
