The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), in partnership with the Digital Transformation Center (DTC) Nigeria and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), recently hosted a two-day event titled “Digital Policy Dialogue: Cooperate. Innovate.” The event aimed to engage stakeholders on the Participatory Policy Implementation Framework (PPIF).
During the event, Kashifu Inuwa CCIE, the Director General of NITDA, highlighted the framework’s emphasis on involving citizens in policy development and implementation to enhance ownership and accountability. “Today marks a remarkable milestone in our journey to reimagine the position of NITDA in the Nigerian tech ecosystem. Five years ago, NITDA faced a significant trust deficit with the tech community due to top-down policy impositions. To address this, NITDA shifted to a collaborative approach, emphasizing co-design and co-creation,” Inuwa stated.
Inuwa expressed gratitude to GIZ for their support, beginning with the Nigerian Startup Act, created through a collaborative process. Building on this success, GIZ and DTC assisted in developing the National Digital Literacy Framework (NDLF) through a similar participatory process, which has seen significant citizen engagement. Recently, the creative sector volunteered to champion digital literacy in Nigeria.
He further mentioned that NITDA is partnering with the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) to train citizens across 774 local governments and with the Ministry of Education to integrate digital skills into the national curriculum by next year. This initiative supports the Ministry of Communication, Innovation and Digital Economy’s long-term goal of achieving 95% digital literacy by 2030 and a midterm goal of 70% by 2027.
Inuwa emphasized that the engagement aligns with NITDA’s Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan (SRAP 2.0), which includes strengthening policy implementation and the legal framework. “To ensure sustainability, GIZ and DTC are formalizing a participatory policy implementation framework that can be adapted beyond the digital sector, benefiting areas such as education, agriculture, and healthcare,” he added. He commended all stakeholders for their past contributions and urged continued collaboration to solidify Nigeria’s legal framework for policy implementation.
Engineer Faruk Yusuf Yabo, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Communications, Innovations, and Digital Economy, expanded on the PPIF’s expectations in his keynote address. “The proposed framework introduces several key initiatives: establishing multi-channel stakeholder engagement, promoting collaborative decision-making through digital platforms, ensuring transparency and accountability, investing in capacity building, and implementing robust monitoring and evaluation mechanisms,” Yabo explained. He stressed that the approach aims to create a participatory policy-making process to ensure equitable distribution of the benefits of technological advancements.
Yabo disclosed that the initiative is supported by partners including the European Union and the German government, marking a commitment to inclusivity and transparency in Nigeria’s digital policy development.
In his opening speech, Dr. Markus Wauschkuhn, Coordinator of the Sustainable Economic Development Cluster (SEDEC) GIZ, Nigeria, welcomed participants to the public presentation of the draft PPIF for the ICT and digital economy sectors. Wauschkuhn highlighted the vital contributions of NITDA, GIZ, and all stakeholders in developing the PPIF, stressing the importance of a participatory policy-making process that includes diverse voices from individuals, communities, businesses, and institutions. He emphasized that this approach aims to ensure transparency, accountability, and trust in governance while addressing the rapid advancements in the digital age.
Dr. Thwueba Dwani, Head of DTC Nigeria, in her opening statement, pointed out that involving stakeholders in policy implementation enhances sustainability and relevance, as evidenced by numerous studies. She introduced the PPIF as a crucial tool for Nigeria’s digital innovation ecosystem, developed through extensive stakeholder engagement and participatory processes.
The event saw representation from various agencies, including the National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC), the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), the National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP), Civil Society Organizations, the private sector, and other relevant stakeholders.
