The Director-General, National Information Technology Development Agency, @NITDANigeria, Mr Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi has said the agency is enhancing data security and safety for all Nigerians.
Mr Inuwa made the announcement Saturday, 29th August 2020 during an interactive chat with NewsWireNGR, about the activities of the agency within the last year he has led affairs of the Technology and Development Agency.
In response to a question about data privacy for Nigerians – he wrote, through his verified twitter handle, “We’ve inaugurated Data Breach Investigation Team in collaboration with the office of the Inspector General of Police. This has allowed us to track and report data infraction cases to Police. So far this year, we have resolved over 790 data regulation issues”.
The Director General revealed that over 790 data regulation issues have been resolved by the agency.
He continued, “Our innovative way of implementing the data protection regulation has, in turn, resulted in the creation of more than 2700 jobs and industry worth more than 2.5B Naira within a year.”
During the hour long twitter engagement joined by Nigerians online with the hashtag #NITDAEngagement – he added that the agency efforts complements the Nigerian Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy led by Mr Isa Pantami in advancing digital technology and growing Nigeria’s digital economy.
He noted that the agency held capacity building programmes for over 650 artisans across four geo-political zones, and 200 IT centres managers across the country to be in tune with the digital economy policy and strategy of this government.
“We hold periodic innovation contests such as Future-Hack, where participants receive funding and mentorship to develop marketable products and services. Since assuming office, we’ve given prize money to various winners and hand-hold them to turn their ideas into products and services,”.
“It’s worth noting that conducted entrepreneurship training on ICT for 200 women, at different times, where they were provided with laptops pre-installed with the requisite e-resources as support for their start-ups has created more than 500 jobs”.
He said President Muhammadu Buhari had set the foundation for the agency by expanding the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy @FMoCDENigeria mandate to cover the digital economy. And the ministry “has crafted digital economy policy for Digital Nigeria, which has identified cybersecurity as a critical enabler of it.
“This year, at @NITDANigeria, we have issued supplementary regulation in line with the National Digital Economy Policy to strengthen the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR), enhance data security and safety for all Nigerians,” his tweet read in parts..
NewsWireNGR recalls that President Muhammadu Buhari had unveiled the National Digital Economy Policy, initiated by the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy.
The unveiling was performed during the e-Nigeria Conference, Exhibition and Awards 2019 at the International Conference Center (ICC), Abuja.
As part of key requirements of the e-government master plan, the President has directed government institutions, “to create a digital transformation technical working group that will work with the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy to ensure seamless and coordinated implementation of projects, programmes and policies”
