Nigeria’s drive to establish itself as a globally competitive destination for digital services gained further momentum on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly (UNGA81), as the Director-General/CEO of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, CCIE, participated in the “Hire from Nigeria” session organised by the Nigeria Economic and Trade Advancement Programme (NATEP).
The NITDA DG joined the Honourable Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Jumoke Oduwole, and the Honourable Minister of Education, Dr. Moruf Alausa, for a strategic discussion focused on impact sourcing, global trade, skills development and inclusive job creation.
The session highlighted Nigeria’s growing capacity to provide globally competitive, technology-enabled services.
Inuwa stressed that Nigeria’s competitive advantage must extend beyond traditional outsourcing. He noted that the rapid advancement of Artificial Intelligence presents an opportunity for the country to establish a distinctive position in AI-augmented, IT-enabled services.
According to him, this requires equipping Nigerians not only to use emerging technologies but also to understand, develop, shape and create economic value through them.
The DG also highlighted Nigeria’s evolving frameworks for data protection, digital identity, cybersecurity, digital infrastructure assurance, data classification, sovereign cloud and software quality assurance. He noted that trust, security and regulatory certainty are essential to attracting global businesses and positioning Nigeria as a reliable destination for digital services.
Inuwa referenced Project BRIDGE, which targets the deployment of 90,000 kilometres of fibre infrastructure, alongside the Cloud First Policy and other measures designed to attract private-sector investment in computing infrastructure and AI factories.
He further underscored the importance of representation in the AI economy, cautioning that communities and economies that are absent from the datasets used to develop intelligent systems risk becoming invisible in the technologies shaping the future.
Through initiatives such as the National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (NCAIR) and the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy, Nigeria is laying the groundwork for developing indigenous AI capabilities while connecting its talent and innovation ecosystem to opportunities in the global digital economy.
The DG’s intervention reinforced the proposition that Nigeria’s opportunity extends beyond supplying talent to the global market. It also involves equipping Nigerian talent with AI capabilities, trusted digital infrastructure and globally competitive skills to deliver higher-value services to the world.
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