Mallam Kashifu Abdullahi represented by the Director of eGovernment Development and Regulation, Dr. Vincent Olatunji hinted that NITDA under the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy and in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) has developed the Nigeria Digital Agriculture Strategy (NDAS) geared towards building a vibrant digital agricultural sector that leverages digital technologies and innovations for sustainability.
According to him, this development has become “Imperative as the population of Nigeria continues to grow with a large demographic of young adults, especially the rural-urban drift we are experiencing in the Nation”.
Speaking further, the DG highlighted that leveraging on digital technologies and innovations will attract the teeming youthful population into the agricultural sector, create new digital business models across the agriculture value chain, enable millions of jobs increase productivity, and increase the contribution of sector to Gross Domestic Product, (GDP) since the youth constitute 62% of the national populace.
“I believe it will make Nigeria a leading country in food security and exporter of standard agricultural products to the rest of the world,” he added.
The DG recalled that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari GCFR has identified agriculture as a key frontier in addressing the economic and employment challenges facing the country, especially at a crucial time as this when the Federal Government has promised to leverage Agriculture to take 100 million Nigerians out of poverty by 2030.
Mallam Abdullahi reiterated that these promises are also part of the Minister’s directives to the agencies.
“NITDA has developed a program to support the achievement of the Ministry’s mandates and this could be seen as one of the visions of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy called the NIGERIA SMART INITIATIVE (NSI).”
He explains that this will facilitate the integration of digital technologies and innovations in every sector of the economy with the aim of unlocking inherent potentials and opportunities, thereby enabling and optimizing each sector substantially for economic diversification and contribution to GDP.
Featured Image: Mallam Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, DG, NITDA
Don’t miss important articles during the week. Subscribe to techbuild weekly digest for updates.