NITDA inaugurates e-Nigeria 2016 organising committee

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has formally inaugurated the Local Organising Committee (LOC) for the 9th eNigeria Conference and Expo 2016.

This was contained in a statement signed by Mrs Hadiza Umar, Head, Corporate Affairs, NITDA, in Abuja, last week. According to the statement the event was supported by the Ministry of Communications.

The acting Director-General of the agency, Dr Vincent Olatunji, who was represented by the Deputy Director of Corporate Strategy and Research, Mr Muhammad Yelwa, inaugurated the committee.

Olatunji said the event had gone full circle to become the clearinghouse for adopting relevant ideas and innovation for defining and accelerating national economic growth.

“It is in this line that this year’s theme: ‘Leveraging on IT Innovation for Economic Diversification’ to identify with the current goals of the Nigerian government to diversify the economy.

“The aim is to cope with the rapid dwindling revenues from the oil sector and create a new vista of revenue directly through ICT or by using ICT to aid other non-oil sectors,” he said.

The eNigeria 2016 is scheduled to take place between 22 and 24 November at the International Conference Centre (ICC), Abuja.

It is expected to attract players of the Nigerian innovation ecosystem and foreign stakeholders to share experiences, identify challenges and propose strategies for using ICT-enabled innovation and entrepreneurship to diversify the economy and create jobs.

The statement said that one of the highlights of the eNigeria 2016 was the section on Startups and Innovation to underscore NITDA’s new work-thrust to promote Nigeria’s startup innovation ecosystem across all the country’s zones. It would also attract potential investors into the vital growth segment of the global ICT economy.

“We are inviting innovation efforts from within Africa to compare with local innovation efforts and also invite global stakeholders, particularly angel investors and promoters of innovator hubs,” he said.

“To be part of the 2016 eNigeria as we in NITDA firm up to promote the national agenda on economic diversification,” said Olatunji, while tasking LOC members to ensure a successful event.

“eNigeria has become a flagship conference and expo and this year, the NITDA plans to have global and local players with strong startup-pull such as Uber, Facebook, Jumia, Konga and the likes to join the league of participants at the event.

“NITDA will also be leveraging on its local and international collaborations such as its partnership with the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) organisers of Gitex Technology Week to thicken the quality of participation at eNigeria,” said Olatunji.