The Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive of the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI), Engr. Prof. M. S. Haruna FAEng, FNSE, FIET, led the Agency’s Management team for a courtesy visit to National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) Headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday 12th April 2022.
Prof. Haruna in his speech stated that the purpose of the visit is to collaborate in areas such as:
1. NANONASENI, is a project aimed at generating microchips and software that will guarantee data protection for the deployment of a digital economy in Nigeria.
2. SIMSAFE Technology project which helps in creating a secure and trusted environment for the subscribers through the elimination of unauthorized access to the Nigerian operators of Sim Cards.
3. NASENI CertVeri System, a project in collaboration with Ebilson for Education and Training Development, a company from the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan to initiate, develop, test, and launch this technology that offers professionals an integrated document and certificate verification services locally.
Prof. Haruna while thanking the NITDA management for their audience, said these projects are critical in driving Nigeria to a sustainable digital economy as well as curbing the alarming rise in cybercrimes.
On his part, the Director-General of NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, congratulated NASENI for its new status and better repositioning for the implementation of its mandate of nurturing an appropriate and dynamic science and engineering infrastructure base for achieving home initiated and the home sustained industrialization of Nigeria.
He applauded NASENI’s Helmsman, Prof. Haruna, and the Management team for the innovative projects which he said is long overdue and very relevant in today’s digital economy and also in line with NITDA’s mandate, especially in the areas of cyber security, local content production and digital transformation of the Nigerian ecosystem. “It is our belief that we cannot succeed in isolation, we need to work together, work as an ecosystem to achieve what we want to achieve when it comes to innovation, as innovation cannot happen in isolation,” he said.
The DG assured NASENI of NITDA’s full cooperation and professional expertise towards a smooth collaboration.
The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) was first created as an ICT Department under NASENI before giving its full status under the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation with a mandate to implement the Nigerian Information Technology Policy and coordinate general IT development in the country. This includes creating a framework for the planning, research, development, standardization, application, coordination, monitoring, evaluation, and regulation of Information Technology practices, activities, and systems in Nigeria.