To advance human and infrastructural development and unlock Africa’s great potentials, the Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa, has urged industry experts and start-ups within the technology ecosystem to work closely with the government in co-creating robust regulations.
He made the call at the second edition of the annual Moonshot Tech Conference 2024 at the Eko Convention Centre, Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos State.
The conference brought together the brightest minds in the African tech space.
Speaking as a panellist at the conference, the DG spoke on the topic, “Building Digital Economies for the World: How African Countries are Shaping their Tech Economies to Compete Across the Continent and Globally”.
Highlighting the importance of balancing innovation and regulation, he explained that innovation involved turning ideas into impactful solutions.
The DG, however noted that while innovation thrives on creativity, regulation must act as a guardrail to ensure stability.
“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,” he stated.
Inuwa’s argument touched on the vital role of collaboration between governments and the private sector to unlock patient local capital in the continent while pointing out that Africa’s greatest asset in the tech ecosystem is its human capital.
“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.
The DG harped on the need for governments to enlighten people on the potential of the technology ecosystem not just for solving local problems but global challenges.
He said that in Nigeria, 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.
Calling for a collective action to strengthen Africa’s digital economy, Inuwa said that “we 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 the DG 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.