Microsoft Nigeria has partnered with the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to strengthen Information Communication Technology (ICT) innovation and adoption nationwide.
BusinessDay gathered that the partnership will see both NITDA and Microsoft collaborate in ICT development and innovation in Nigeria, particularly in the areas of cloud policies, data protection and privacy laws and data classification frameworks.
NITDA’s mandate is to create a framework for the planning, research, development, standardisation, application, coordination, monitoring, evaluation and regulation of Information Technology practices in Nigeria.
Considering that technology will be at the heart of driving and building a digital economy that will bring the government agency’s priorities which include anti-corruption drive, security, private sector led economic growth and job creation, youth training and skills development to fruition.
Speaking on the collaboration, Isa Ali Ibrahim, NITDA’s Director-General, said; ‘We are delighted to collaborate with Microsoft; as regulators, our mandate is to create the right policies that foster innovation and help build a robust digital economy.
Nigeria is a forward-thinking economy and one which is ready to compete in the 4th industrial revolution by having policies which drive growth and encourage investments,” He added.
According to the DG, “This is a positive move towards digitalisation of government processes and provides a tremendous opportunity to scale up citizen’s access to services and concurrently improve the quality of services.”
Akin Banuso, General Manager Microsoft Nigeria, said; ‘‘we are excited to collaborate with NITDA. Microsoft is committed to providing technology you can trust; we have been actively involved in discussions with governments around the world to digitally transform and are also frequently asked by governments to identify best practices for moving to the cloud; we are honoured to be able to work with the Nigerian government on this framework.”
Banuso added that ‘this collaboration aims to foster detailed discussions of recent regulatory and policy development, including global best practices, to create cloud regulatory frameworks appropriate for driving innovation and improving how the public sector operates and delivers citizen services.”
NITDA and Microsoft will set up a joint working group for the collaboration.
Jumoke Akiyode-Lawanson
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