NITDA Partners Lagos Business School on Review of STRAP 2.0

Oghenevwede Ohwovoriole in Abuja

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) is partnering the Lagos Business School (LBS) on the review of the agency’s digital Strategic Roadmap Action Plan 2023-2027 (STRAP-2.0).

The Director General of NITDA, Kachifu Abdulahi, disclosed this at the Second Edition of the SRAP 2.0 Stakeholders Engagement Workshop, in Abuja.

Abdulahi said since the agency set targets for the implementation it should not be the one to review itself or solely plan the next phase alone.

“We need to set targets for ourselves. When we set targets, we need to identify the capabilities we need to achieve those targets. Part of the capabilities of human capital is key to it. So that was the reason we engaged Lagos Business School to look at our mandate, our strategy, and do research.

“We believe the strategy is to help us reimagine ourselves within the Nigerian tech ecosystem. We don’t exist in isolation. We exist to serve you as our critical stakeholders. And also, we exist to work together with you to create value for our country,” Abdulahi said.

He explained that in 2023, NITDA crafted the second strategic roadmap and action plan, adding that it undertook an internal review of the first one.

Abdullahi noted, “For me, if you review yourself, you can decide to give whatever marks you want to give yourself.

“Out of 70 initiatives, we said we’ve achieved more than 80 per cent. But we should not be the one grading ourselves. We should have you as our stakeholders to look at what we do, to tell us whether we do well or not.”

According to him, the idea of seeking outside assessment was to know what is expected of the agency

“So, that’s the reason when we are reviewing the achievement of STRAP 2.0, we said we don’t want to do it the same way we did the other one, because we need to come up with a new strategy. But we really want to engage you, to hear from you what happened between 2023 to date.

“We are working with the Lagos Business School again, to make sure we review the existing strategy, because we need to come up with a new strategy next year. We normally do three-year strategy.

“But before we do next-year strategy, we want to make sure what we have promised in the last three years, we’ve delivered. And also, we want to hear your own perspectives about it, and what you want us to put in the new strategy we are going to develop,” he said.

In his overview of STRAP 2.0, Dr. Raymond Onuoha of the Lagos Business School said, 2.8 million Nigerians had been certified trained in digital skills.

“We have over 700 plus startups that have been supported through several initiatives, whether incubation, acceleration, provision of market access.

He said that $51.2 million funding had been mobilised for the technology startups, and an additional $100 million provided within that ecosystem.

“In terms of regulatory standards and frameworks that have been developed, we have about 17 of them, with the latest being the four national cloud investment and policy documents that have just been released.

“About N2.77 trillion of public IT projects have been reviewed through NITDA’s IT project clearance initiative…And with regards to cybersecurity, almost 80,000 participants have been trained.

“At a broad glance, this is what STRAP has delivered in the last three years. And the imput we are going to be getting from you will be in terms of driving this performance from activity to outcomes.

“We have seen the overall performance in terms of those key numbers, but how does that compare internationally? These are benchmarks,” he said.

“Someone says, ‘I have your nude picture. Give me a certain amount of money or I will spread it.’ You should not keep silent. You can report. When you keep silent, you enable and empower your monster,” he said.

In her remarks, Child Safety Advocate and Executive Director of the Stop the Abuse Against Women and Children Foundation, Toyin Ndidi Taiwo-Ojo, warned parents against giving children unrestricted access to smartphones and other electronic devices, saying exposure to the internet has increased their vulnerability to cyberbullying, sexual exploitation, intimidation and other forms of online abuse.

She stated that children, particularly minors, were increasingly exposed to online dangers because they often lacked the maturity and awareness to distinguish between genuine threats and seemingly harmless online interactions.

She said the growing dependence on digital technology had made the internet an integral part of everyday life, but warned that its benefits also came with risks, especially for children.

According to her, many parents give their children smartphones and other electronic devices to keep them occupied, serve as digital babysitters or assist them with schoolwork without considering the potential dangers.

She described such devices as a double-edged sword, capable of protecting children and exposing them to harm.

“Children online are being cyberbullied. Some are being groomed for sexual exploitation, while others have even gone ahead to commit suicide. These are all dangers inherent in the use of the internet,” Taiwo-Ojo said.

In her remarks, an Associate Professor of Mental Health Education, Guidance and Counselling at Lagos State University of Education (LASUED), Shade Vivian Adeyemi, urged parents to establish digital boundaries for their children and monitor their online activities to protect them from misinformation, harmful content and online exploitation.

She said children were increasingly exposed to online dangers despite using digital platforms for learning, social networking and entertainment.

She noted that parents should not assume that children were using the internet solely for educational purposes without finding out the kind of information they accessed and the platforms they visited.

According to her, “some online platforms expose children to individuals who groom them for exploitation, harmful advertisements and invitations to activities that could threaten their safety and well-being.”

She expressed concern that some individuals also use the internet to market drugs and lure young people into parties and other potentially harmful activities.

Adeyemi said the growing influence of Artificial Intelligence and information technology made it imperative for children to develop responsible online habits and understand the importance of setting digital boundaries.

She stressed that parents and caregivers had a responsibility to educate children on navigating the digital space safely while protecting their social and mental well-being.

The event witnessed the signing of BeSafe pledge by the students to report sextortion, refusing to be a cyber-bully and saying no, to gambling.