NITDA defends role in public sector ICT devt

NITDA defends role in public sector ICT devt




The National Information Technology Development Agency has reaffirmed its position as the only organisation saddled with the responsibility of coordinating general Information and Communications Technology development in the public sector.

NITDA’s Director-General, Mr. Peter Jack, in a document made available to our correspondent on Friday, said the agency was established in April 2001 under the Federal Ministry of Communication Technology with the mandate of coordinating general ICT development activities in the public sector.

This, according to him, include designing a framework for the planning, research, development, standardisation, application, coordination, monitoring, evaluation and regulation of IT practices, activities and systems in the country.

In furtherance of its mandate of driving ICT awareness and Internet penetration in the country, the NITDA boss said, “By virtue of the instrumentality of NITDA as the foremost ICT regulatory agency in the country, Galaxy Backbone Limited, an ICT services provider, was established in 2006. Through NITDA, Galaxy Backbone was created to coordinate and harmonise the approach to ICT acquisition, operation and use in the public sector.

“As an ICT limited liability company, this was done with a view to enabling the Federal Government to derive more value from its investments in the ICT industry by eliminating duplication, establishing economies of scale, enhancing interoperability of systems and improving government’s capacity to deliver electronic services.”

Despite the emergence of Galaxy Backbone, Jack said NITDA had remained the clearing house for all IT projects and infrastructure development in the country, adding that it had been driving e-government implementation and Internet governance in the country.

He said, “Since the establishment of NITDA over 14 years ago, the agency has continued to be alive to its obligations as regards the development and deployment of IT in Nigeria via human capital development, provision of key IT infrastructure and creation of an enabling environment for IT development in the country.”

According to him, NITDA has also established Mobile Internet Units to take ICT directly to the doorsteps of the citizenry.

Apart from some physically-challenged Nigerians who have received ICT empowerment in order to add value to themselves, NITDA said more than 300 local government areas in the country now operate Rural Internet Technology Centres provided by the agency.

In view of NITDA’s enumerated attainments over the years, Jack said the agency should be encouraged to continue to deliver on its various e-governance projects, while promoting its local content initiatives and programmes through young Nigerian innovators.

The document said, “To enhance administrative efficiency and productivity in the public sector, NITDA has equally installed enterprise technology centre for the training of civil servants, as about 10,000 civil servants have benefitted from Computer for All Nigerians Initiative established by the agency in collaboration with local Original Equipment Manufacturers.”

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NITDA defends role in public sector ICT devt