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The National Information Technology Development Agency, (NITDA) has said that it made no less than N12.6 million from companies filling the Nigerian Data Protection Regulations (NDPR) audit report forms.
The money, according to NITDA Director-General, Mallam Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, was remitted into the government coffers.
Abdullahi who made the disclosure while on a courtesy visit to the new Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, Engr Festus Daudu, also claimed that NITDA has built a Nigerian IT industry worth about N2.2 billion and created over 2, 686 jobs.
He stated that the Agency’s efforts at localizing the government data has resulted in the repatriation of up to 98 percent of government data hosted off-shore.
On Indigenous Content Promotion, Abdullahi said the Agency has issued a total number of 297 Compliance notices in addition to constituting a crack surveillance team which uses eagle eyes to look at all ICT contents.
These measures, according to him, resulted in an unprecedented rise in sales of hardware under the indigenous content development, to over 1.2million devices between 2015 and 2019.
This is also as investments in indigenous software development by Federal government institutions mandated by NITDA, stands at over N1.3 billion. Another area, Abdullahi said NITDA’s efforts at localising content has yielded dividends is in the area of localising government data.
He said: “So far, NITDA has repatriated up to 98 percent of government data hosted off-shore. “ Most of the Agency’s interactions are targeted at developing the economy of the country, and building the capacity of Nigerians to acquire skill necessary to drive a digital economy.
“NITDA roadmaps of 2016-2020 are aligned with the National Economy Policy and Strategy and we are about to launch 2021-2024 roadmaps which would consolidate the pillars of NDEPS”.
He also added that the current National IT Policy which the Agency created has become obsolete giving rise to a new policy of Digital Economy which comoels the Agency to rebrand and reposition itself for better performance. After listening to Abdullahi and his team, Daudu commended the efforts but charged him to focus more on capacity building.
He said: “You need to make sure that the necessary capacity is developed within the ecosystem because you have a lot to do and if you do not develop your capacity; in this particular sector that is dynamic, you will lose touch with current realities”.
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