Kashifu Inuwa One Year In Office: Piloting NITDA Affairs for Digital Revolution

By Aminu Aminu
If you are not conversant with the acronym NITDA, it simply refers to the National Information Technology Development Agency, which was established on 18 April, 2000 to boost the spectrum of information technology development in Nigeria.
On 20th August, 2019, a consummate computer technologist, Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi CCIE was announced as NITDA’s 5th Director General to step into the shoes of his predecessor, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, who was then appointed Communications and Digital Economy Minister by President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR.
Kashifu is a digital savvy that is poised to piloting NITDA’s scheme of affairs to an unprecedented level. It is interesting to note here that while being accustomed to his tremendous performances, it also pertinent to have a brief look about NITDA and the role it plays on Nigeria’s Information Technology sector.
The primary objective of NITDA’s existence is full scale implementation of the Nigerian Information Technology Policy and coordinate general IT development in the country. It is also mandated to create a framework for the planning, research, standardization, application, coordination, monitoring, evaluation and regulation of information technology practices and systems in Nigeria.
It is also worthy of mentioning that the NITDA is the clearing house for all IT projects and infrastructural development in the country as well as the prime agency for e-governance implementation, internet governance and general IT development in Nigeria.
From the aforementioned activities therefore, NITDA is a development catalyst that must be properly channeled for our overall development. It is a functional agency that has the technological prerequisites to fix the nation on the rapid path of economic growth through digitalized settings and performances that breed enthusiastic atmosphere in the global contest for advanced information technology.
Prior to his assumption of duty as NITDA DG, this young man had worked with Galaxy Backbone Limited where he demonstrated his digital knowledge in an amazing pattern which evolved and enhanced his experiences. Accordingly, in 2014, he was employed as Technology Architect by the Central Bank of Nigeria where he relentlessly worked on developing Technology Architecture Repository that provided a 360 view of the Bank’s IT infrastructure and had served there as a principal officer.
It was a laudable feat that he was a key resource in the development of IT standards for the apex bank, which reduced mean time to deploy and integrate new system by over 20%. One of his major achievements as a technology architect in the apex bank was the production of Seven Solution Architectures for critical IT initiatives that facilitated in achieving cashless society in Nigeria.
In 2017, Kashifu officially joined NITDA and the aftermath of this exposed more of his technological abilities and capacities. In the second quarter of 2018, this dynamic man successfully managed the execution of a viable and formidable strategy that increased ICT contribution to Nigeria’s GDP by 13% and under his diligent and professional guidance, over 300 IT infrastructures were implemented.
Interestingly in the same year, he coordinated local content initiatives that increased ICT local production by over 200%. Kashifu assisted Federal Government of Nigeria in to saving over 16 billion Naira of various IT projects clearance and encouraged shared services among agencies. For the doubting Thomases, the star record is there intact and will remain unaltered for the benefit of prosperity. Also, over 5% cost reduction was recorded during major projects where he managed the procurement process. It is not surprising therefore that he is recognized by the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) as one of the 100 leading Telecommunication and ICT personalities in Nigeria.
Supervised by the Honourable Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, NITDA initiated and launched National Adopted Village for Smart Agriculture (NAVSA). It is the creation of the DG and its primary aim is motivating farmers to focus more on digital platforms and precision smart farming to boost agricultural products in Nigeria. This conceptualised IT project is a good step in the right direction to promote agricultural activities through means of information technology. It is greatly hoped that this will serve as a revolutionary approach towards food production and boost the economy to greater heights.
When the covid-19 pandemic reared its ugly head, Kashifu was seriously alarmed, up and doing, brooding on how NITDA would be utilized to cushion the devastating effects of the globally virus. Consequently, he inaugurated a 10-member advisory committee to advise the government on appropriate measures to be taken to ameliorate the adverse repercussions of the COVID19 pandemic on start-ups, small and medium businesses as well as the Technology Ecosystem in general.
In this regard, NITDA organised various programmes, including COVID-19 Innovation Challenge, designed to help come up with ideas that could contain the virus and assuage its effects on the economy.
It is also to the credit of Kashifu that NITDA in partnership with the UNICEF came up with a challenge to empower youths to solve series of global challenges and positively impact communities while developing employability skills. This positive trend has gone a long way in enhancing and exposing youth potentialities, a development that breeds self reliance and economic growth.
In May this year, the NITDA Academy was conceptualised to promote capacity building of the youth for the ultimate development of the nation and the world of information technology. Thus, currently, over 17,000 Nigerians have enrolled in the virtual academy in the wake of Coronavirus pandemic and its socio-economic impacts globally. The students are undergoing training on 47 different courses cut across emerging technologies such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence and many others.
Kashifu is a frequent speaker at industry recognized events who has contributed to several strategies, drawing successful technical initiatives, programmes and business growth in multi-cultural, multi-disciplined and challenging environments. He is a certified project manager and solution architect with professional certificates in networking, telecommunications, service management and solutions design. He is a member of both Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) and British Computer Society (BCS).
By this exposition of this digital character, one will be eager to know his brief biography.
Kashifu Abdullahi Inuwa was born in 1980 in Hadejia, Jigawa state. He studied Computer Technology at the Abubakar Tarawa Balewa University, Bauchi.
He studied Leadership and Management courses at Harvard University in the USA, University of Cambridge and IMD Business School in Switzerland. He is also a Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained Strategist.
Having spent less than a year in his stewardship as the DG of NITDA and considering his currently sterling achievements in various capacities, the next years of Kashifu’s tenure will definitely produce surprise packages to move NITDA and the nation forward.