Benjamin Babine, Abuja
The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has said that it is working hard to balance the concerns and advantages of Fourth Industrial Revolution (FIR) particularly as it relates with the fear of people losing their jobs due to digital automation.
The Director General, Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, made it known at an International Conference on Information Technology in Education and Development (ITED 2020) organised by Academia in Information Technology Profession, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria. He said that the agency is working round the clock help organisations adapt to the rapid transformation and also to prevent security risks triggered by digitization.
The DG who represented by Dr Usman Gambo Abdullahi Director IT Infrastructure Solutions, stated that in order to adapt to the ICT Development in the FIR, the agency is developing new and updating regulatory framework putting into consideration economic, environmental and social aspects in a way it serves and benefit the people.
He assured participants that NITDA is quite aware of the concerns as it has and will continue establish adequate regulatory system for new business models and services, while allowing the economy and the society to benefit from innovative ideas.
“One of our priorities as a regulatory agency is to strengthen the innovation capacity of the IT industry, which is why we have been deploying hubs and technology infrastructures in various parts of the Nation,” he noted.
He also added that, “We provide assistance to SMEs, start-ups and researchers by funding projects in line with digital innovation.”
The DG stressed that in order to better understand the FIR, it’s of importance to focus on the technologies driven aspects, which are: Artificial Intelligence (AI), Block-chain, Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality, Holographic storages, Nanotechnology, Robotics, Biotechnology, IOT and many others.
He said: “It is important to note that with the 4th Industrial Revolution presenting both immense opportunities and challenges, utmost cooperation is required to ensure it benefits our economic, social, cultural, and individual lives.”
“This is the reason we are ensuring that all stakeholders from civil society, private and public sector are fully involved in the decision-making. We do engage stakeholders in our policy making processes”, he assured.