Nigeria Must Create, Not Just Adopt, Tomorrow’s Technologies-NITDA DG

Nigeria is deliberately positioning itself to play a leading role in the future global economy by developing policies, strategies, talent and an innovation ecosystem capable of moving the country beyond technology adoption to technology creation.

The Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, stated this at GITEX summit in Lagos.

Inuwa said the emerging global economy would increasingly be driven by human intelligence, creativity, knowledge and the ability to solve complex problems.

According to him, Nigeria’s greatest asset is its people, making digital literacy, talent development and investment in deep-tech research critical to the country’s economic transformation agenda.

The NITDA boss highlighted Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), robotics, blockchain, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and additive manufacturing as key technologies capable of improving productivity and creating new economic opportunities across different sectors.

He said Nigeria was building the capacity required to harness these emerging technologies and strengthen its position in the global digital economy.

According to Inuwa, the country’s ambition is to build a Nigeria that does not merely adopt technologies developed elsewhere but actively creates, scales and exports innovative solutions to global markets.

He added that strengthening Nigeria’s innovation and technology ecosystem would be crucial to ensuring that the country plays a significant role in shaping the future economy.