From left:; Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, CCIE, Director General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA); and Dr Aisha Garba, Execuyuve Secretary of Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) at the NITDA HQ for strategic deliberations on deepening collaboration to accelerate digital literacy across Nigeria’s basic education system.
The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has reaffirmed its commitment to working closely with the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) to accelerate digital literacy and expand access to technology across Nigeria’s basic education system.
The announcement came during a courtesy visit by UBEC’s management team, led by its Executive Secretary, Aisha Garba, to NITDA Headquarters in Abuja. NITDA Director General, Kashifu Inuwa, said the collaboration is essential to meeting national digital literacy targets, particularly ensuring that students not just teachers, benefit from digital education initiatives.
Inuwa highlighted NITDA’s ongoing efforts, including training teachers and deploying over 1,500 digital learning centres nationwide. He stressed that tracking the impact of these initiatives through data analytics and artificial intelligence is critical to ensure measurable results. “We need to know how many students are being reached and what progress is being made. Technology allows us to capture this data and plan effectively,” he said.
The DG also addressed infrastructure challenges, noting that while many learning centres are operational, connectivity and underutilisation remain issues. He proposed joint data mapping and shared initiatives with UBEC to optimise resources and expand reach. Inuwa further offered to share NITDA’s digital transformation playbook, citing the agency’s AI training programmes as a model for empowering staff to embrace technology.
For her part, Dr. Garba described the partnership as strategic, pointing to the magnitude of UBEC’s mandate to provide education for over 47 million children. She emphasised that collaboration with NITDA is critical to bridging access gaps and improving the quality of learning across the country. “We need strong partners to ensure technology reaches every child and enhances education outcomes,” she said.
Both agencies agreed to strengthen coordination, leverage technology, and employ data-driven approaches to improve digital literacy in schools, laying the groundwork for a more inclusive and technologically empowered basic education system in Nigeria.
