The Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa, has called for more investment in the development of digital assets in Nigeria.

Inuwa, who made this call recently at the 2nd annual Sustainability Week Africa, which was held at The Westin in Cape Town, South Africa, stated that Nigeria can transition to a greener economy by leveraging emerging technologies.

According to him, “ Africa’s economic destiny hinges on its own compute capacity”, describing them as the foundation for sustainable digital transformation, job creation, and intra-African trade.

He stresses “ that a forceful investment in local digital public infrastructure is the critical step to unlock sustainable transformation and finally drive meaningful economic growth across the continent.

“In Africa, we need to have our digital circuits by building our own capacity for digital self-determination. We should not rely on other countries to be sending hardware and software to us because our goal is to build a better life for our citizens, and technology will help us achieve that,” he noted.

He further called for a stronger coordination between governments, the private sector, and development partners to harmonise digital standards and scale innovation across the continent.

He said, “Africa’s advantage lies in our ability to leap, to build collaboratively, and to design technology for inclusion. If we build the digital rails together, our youth will drive Africa straight into the heart of the global digital economy.”