EU Commits €820m to Support Digital Ecosystem, Lauds Nigeria’s National Innovation Hub Standard Framework

Oghenevwede Ohwovoroile in Abuja 

The European Union (EU) is committing €820 million to support the Nigerian digital ecosystem in a bid to bolster the nation’s digital economy through the National Innovation Hub Standard Framework (NIHSFI).

The Programme Officer for Green and Digital Economy at the European Union Delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Ms. Tolba Ikram, disclosed this at the National Innovation Hub Standard Framework validation workshop on Thursday, in Abuja.

Ms Ikram stated that innovation hubs are the connective tissues of digital economy. “Innovation hubs are not a peripheral part of the digital economy as we know. They are a connective tissue of it. They are where a young engineer, for example, with an idea can meet its mentorship, build a strong workplace and turn its ideas into concrete business. They are where also digital skills once secure become livelihoods for citizens.

“This is exactly why the National Innovation Hub Standards Framework today matters a lot to us. What strikes us most is the framework design philosophy. It is built as an ecosystem development, as an instrument but not as a restricted tool for our partners. 

“And this section matters a lot for us. From the EU side we see this framework as part of a broader architecture we are supporting under the EU Nigeria Digital Package and the Global Gateway Strategy.

“We also see a real potential to connect  this framework to the EU tech business so far and specifically to EU certification providers in Europe and research and development centres to ensure the partnership is strong.

“This year, for example, we will start delivering certification with SAP, the German company, and hope we will be able to open this partnership to other EU and Nigerian companies,” she added.

Speaking on EU’s support for the Nigerian digital ecosystem, she said: “Indeed, we are supporting the ecosystem as Team Europe with K-Metro States with over €820 million for the period 2021-2027 and we hope to continue for the next multi-annual framework we are starting to discuss.”

In his keynote address, Nigeria’s Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani, said Nigeria is one of the countries with clarity in the area of technology deployment for national development.

“I can tell you today there are not that many countries in the world with clarity on what technology should be doing for their society and I am not talking just Africa. I can prove that. 

“In Nigeria, we have identified that there are three different layers to how technology is used to support any society and if you truly want to grow a country, you cannot ignore the role that technology is now playing in communities, because most of the sectors that you want to grow, technology is the core to growing them.

“But for you to be able to do that, you need to understand those three layers:  There’s the foundational layer which is where all the infrastructure sits. The next layer is where we have what you call the technology stack that actually will allow people to build. And the third layer is where the innovators operate,” Tijani said.

Speaking on the importance of the NIHSF, the Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, said: “We realise that hubs around the country have been served as an orchestrator of ecosystem; a place where people, innovators, students, entrepreneurs go and discuss ideas, try to take their ideas from inception to impact. So to standardise it, we need to have a framework.” 

According to him, “It’s not every talented person that has the resources to spend and invest on growing that idea. So, we need people that can provide the capital and that also cannot be government always. It’s not going to be scalable for government to always provide safe funding for startups. 

“We need the large corporate organisations because when you build those ideas, innovative solutions, you need to take them to market.”

On her part, the National Coordinator, Office for Nigerian Digital Innovation (ONDI), Victoria Fabumi, said: “What this framework does is strengthen the mothers so that they are able to give the baby the required support to be able to grow and provide impact to the society at scale. 

“So that’s what this framework is supposed to do; to strengthen hubs and also strengthen the connection so we don’t just have innovation concentrated in urban areas, but it becomes mainstreamed across the country.”