When the Vice President of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria, Professor Yemi Osinbajo SAN, gave his steering speech at
the 2016 e-Nigeria International Conference and Exhibition, emphasising the
point that the President Buhari administration is set to reset Nigeria’s
economic architecture by diversifying from oil dependency and leveraging on ICT
as a critical contributor to the economy, some people felt it was the usual
talk by political leaders, without any intention to bring the vision to
fruition.
But events have come to prove that real change is happening in the
way government is engaging with Tech. In 2017, Mr President himself attended
the e-Nigeria International Conference and Exhibition to give his scorecard on
support for the Information Technology sector and his plans for its further
development.
It was therefore not a surprise when I
received the mail that I was to join His Excellency the Vice President (VP) for
a tour of the Innovation Hubs in Lagos. Although NITDA through its Office for
ICT Innovation and Entrepreneurship (OIIE) embarked on a similar trip in
November 2017, having to accompany the VP is something special.
The purpose of the visit was to gain first-hand
knowledge of the innovation ecosystem. The Honourable Minister of Science and
Technology, Dr Ogbonaya Onu, was also on the VP’s entourage. This was not a
regular official function, it was not a time of talking and lecturing the citizens
about what government has done or not done; it was a time to LISTEN. Indeed we
listened to our young, vibrant, passionate and highly motivated youths. They
demonstrated to us that the best of Nigeria is yet to be unveiled. It was a
tour that gave hope to all.
The young people saw in the government team, a
breath of fresh thinking. They did not see the grand-standing and
disruptiveness that such a visit would have caused in the past. They remained
at their work, coding, some were eating some were taking selfies with the VP. It was
such a joy to see the glee on everyone that day.
We listened to the Paystack story, how
Shola and Ezra began a quiet revolution in payments processing back in 2014.
Paystack has now become one of the most efficient payment processors in the
country. Many did not pay attention to Andela until Mark Zuckerberg announced
an investment in the Startup. Andela set out to solve the problem of top-class
IT skills gap in Africa and the world. Andela recruits interns after a rigorous
process in which less than 1% of over 70,000 scale through. The interns then go
through a six-month intensive bootcamp that sharpens them to become
world-class. The energy, intelligence and zeal of the over 500 strong office of
young people in T-shirts and Jeans is enthralling. Sulyman, the VP Global
Operations, gave the visitors an expose on the business model, opportunities
and challenges of Andela.
Flutterwave is sited in a bunker-like
structure. This company was founded by a team of ex-bankers, entrepreneurs and
engineers. In less than two years of its founding this payment gateway has
processed transactions valued over $2 billion and has over 45,000 merchants.
Time would fail me to talk about Autogenius, Carido, Asoko Insight, Branch.
These are startups that provide solutions ranging from auto-mechanics, micro
insurance, micro loans, corporate intelligence etc. Indeed the Nigerian genius
is unleashed and we at NITDA are paying close attention.
We visited 6 places and listened to 14
Startups tell us what they do. FarmCrowdy solves the problem of under-utilized
arable farm lands, help farmers access capital, help people invest in
agriculture without owning a farm and everybody gets a share of the profit.
That is amazing indeed. At Africa Fintech Foundry (AFF) operated by Access Bank
Plc., we saw an organisation getting itself ready for the new face of banking
and finance. The final stop was at Co-Creation Hub, Yaba. This pioneering
beehive of innovation is not resting on its oars. Cc-Hub is giving Nigeria its
first home-grown cyber-security platform called Safe-Online. In the same place
we met Re-Learn, a Startup that is working to transform difficult educational
concepts into funny cartoons. We spoke with the Managing Partner of Growth
Capital, Tunji Eleso who told us how they are helping fund innovations of
Nigerians by Nigerian investors.
Throughout the tour, I as the Director General/CEO
of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) paid very close
attention and took notes copiously. I noted the opportunities and challenges of
the sector as well as the impact or gap of our interventions as an Agency of
Federal Government. Since we came on-board, I had often reiterated my resolve
to impact the ‘Forgotten Ones’ in the tech ecosystem. By this I mean the
enterprising Startups, the Women, Children and small enterprises. One of the
things we did was to reposition OIIE not as a competitor with the Hubs, rather
to be a facilitator and policy compass to ensure the sector got all what it
needed to grow. In this regard, we prepared a draft of the Nigerian ICT Innovation
And Entrepreneurship Framework (NIIEF).
The objective of the Framework is to
cast a vision for the ICT innovation ecosystem, identify the stakeholders,
define critical roles of NITDA in their development and responsibilities of all
stakeholders. A stakeholders’ engagement was held in the 4th quarter
of 2017, where representatives of the Hubs, Academia, States and Federal Government
all made inputs to the Draft. The Draft was further scrutinized at the recently
organised I4Policy Hackathon held in Lagos and Abuja. Inputs of stakeholders
have been taken and would continue to be until we have a document
fit-for-purpose.
The IT Projects Clearance function of
NITDA has also become a veritable instrument to empower Startups in Nigeria.
The Committee has been gathering data to identify IT projects that can be
reserved for the small-scale tech companies. Our goal is to engage the relevant
Agencies to find a way to reduce the entry barrier for young people to bid and
win government contracts in areas they have shown relative competence. Also, we
have insisted on local content where such capacities exist.
Another initiative
we are experimenting at NITDA is to match Startups and Hubs with successful
winners of our project bids. This has proven successful in some of our
programmes and projects as the young innovators bring agility and
fresh-thinking to the process while getting experience and finance. We would
ensure this programme continues and grows to become a model for implementing IT
and other projects in Nigeria.
Indeed, the creative zeal and passion
of the Nigerian youth has caught the attention of the world and President Muhammadu
Buhari’s administration is paying close attention and giving the necessary
support without disrupting the disruptors.
*Contributed by Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim
Pantami, the Director General/CEO of the National Information
Technology Development Agency (NITDA).
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