NITDA Endorses Digital Africa for Promoting Local Technology Industry Development

  Local and global technology industry stakeholders are endorsing the 2014 edition of the Digital Africa Conference & Exhibition, slated for May 20-22, 2014 in Lagos.  In its second year, the annual technology industry event is fast evolving into the ultimate platform for rallying global and African thought leaders, corporations, associations and government agencies to deliberate on transiting Africa from consumer to producer of technology. It would be recalled that the Ministry of Communication Technology, World Electronics Forum (WEF) and AIT InfoTech Network recently declared support for the Digital Africa 2014 conference and exhibition. Likewise, the National Information and Technology Development Agency (NITDA) have endorsed Digital Africa Conference & Exhibition 2014, stating that its theme and content is timely and topical. NITDA is the agency of the Federal Government of Nigeria tasked with the development and regulation of the country’s emerging information and communication technology industry for sustainable development. Receiving the Digital Africa Team during a working visit to NITDA, Dr. Ashiru Daura, Acting Director General, National Information and Technology Development Agency said, “In the last decade, rapid churn out and mass production of information and communication technology innovation have changed the world as we know it. To ensure alignment and adherence to best practices, public and private sector institutions in Nigeria have spent hundreds of billions of Naira on technology innovations and solutions. Yet we can hardly point to global brands that have we grown out of the Country. As such, huge capital flight plagues the fast growing technology sector. “It is indeed heart warming that promotion of local content in Nigeria and Africa’s fast growing technology industry is the primary goal of the promoters of the Digital Africa Conference & Exhibition. This is in alignment with the medium to long term agenda of NITDA to promote the development of Nigerian content in the local technology industry. We are therefore glad that to support a virile private sector initiative of significant scale such as Digital Africa Conference & Exhibition which complements ongoing NITDA initiatives in the area of local content development in the local technology sector”. Thanking the NITDA boss for the support, Dr. Evans Woherem, Chairman, Digital Africa Global Consult Limited, organisers of the Digital Africa Conference said, “Our vision is to move Africa from a passive consumer to a dominant innovator and user of digital technologies. We are actualising this by bringing business leaders and organisations together to facilitate the continued, responsible growth of the African economy through the development of the local information and communication technology industry”. Dr.Woherem added that the annual Digital Africa Conference & Exhibition provides platform for private sector organisations interested in growing their businesses to address the needs of local markets and reach out to the international market.