Nigeria To Partner With American Technology Company On Digital Services

Nigeria’s National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) is to collaborate with an American technology company, Amazon on digital services for operators in the country

The Director General of NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa made this known to Journalists after he received the Amazon representative in Africa and the Middle East, Narrimane Benakcha, in Abuja, the nation’s capital.

The visit provided an opportunity for the Director General to explain the mandate of the agency and its scope of operation in implementing the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy for a digital Nigeria.

Inuwa expressed concerns over the enormous cost incurred by some fintech operators in accessing hosting services from Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft and other related services.

“As a government, we have a Cloud-first strategy. We encourage even the government’s ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to go to Cloud because it is easier, cheaper, faster and convenient to deploy your services without the stress of overhead and other costs,” he said.

He urged Amazon and other multinational organisations to have a common interest in Nigeria, adding that the market is appropriate and foretells that Nigeria will be the next frontier in digital services.

Inuwa postulated that digital services would thrive in Nigeria because of the nation’s youthful population.

President Buhari Inaugurates Committee On National Economy
President Muhammadu Buhari has stated that despite the disruptions in global economy and internal troubles, the Nigerian economy has continued to be resilient and maintains an upward trajectory.

Speaking on Friday at the inauguration of the Presidential Committee on the National Economy, President Buhari said the COVID-19 pandemic; the war in Ukraine and the loss of substantial volumes of oil have had negative impacts on the Nigerian economy.

The President noted, however, that some of the problems could be addressed internally, making the constitution of the seasoned economic experts expedient:

“It is however important to note that some of the issues we must address are peculiar to us. For example, the decline in our production of crude oil. It is estimated that last month, August 2022, we produced less than 1mn barrels. The fall in production is essentially due to economic sabotage.

“With the high price of oil in the world markets, producing at about half our OPEC quota has deprived us of much needed revenue and foreign exchange. Government is working tirelessly to reverse this situation,” he added.

The Presidential Committee on the Economy is chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari and has as members the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo; Dr. Kayode Fayemi, Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum; Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, Minister for Finance, Budget, and National Planning; Niyi Adebayo, Minister for Industry, Trade and Investment; and Chief Timipre Sylva, Minister of State for Petroleum.

Other members include Mr. Boss Mustapha, Secretary to the Government of the Federation; Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, Chief of Staff to the President; Mr. Godwin Emefiele, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and Dr. Mohammed Sagagi, Vice Chairman of the Presidential Economic Advisory Council.