Emma Okonji
Softcom, an indigenous technology company and technical partners to the federal government on the N-Power project, has advanced technological solutions to Nigeria and Africa’s socio-economic development challenges.
The SDGs Agenda 2030 of ending poverty, ensuring equitable quality education, and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all was also referenced.
The company gave the highlights of the technological solutions at its recent conference, which held in Lagos, with the theme: Combating Poverty: Role of Technology in Driving Social Change in Africa.
The conference, which discussed technology as a disruptor and game changer that would help Nigeria eradicate poverty and grow the economy, through investment in the relevant infrastructure, also featured a panel and open discussion session with outcomes that sought to drive an agenda for inclusion and social change for Africa’s accelerated development with technology as the driving force.
Softcom CEO, Yomi Adedeji, said the 12-year old company remained focused on addressing fundamental development issues tied to identity, payment, data and learning.
He said these four pillars formed the bedrock upon which any development initiative would rest.
“For any development initiative to be successful, we have to first solve the issue of identity. This is because a one-to-all approach at solving development issues will make little impact and limit sustainability. Individuals function within economic clusters or communities.
“It is important to take cognisance of these peculiarities in designing any intervention programme,” Adedeji said.
The Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to the President on job creation, Mr. Afolabi Imoukhuede, noted six pillars comprising identity, digital literacy, education, agriculture, financial services and health, that would facilitate social inclusion and national development.
He added that strong government participation in policymaking, resource allocation and ecosystem development was required to fast track development in these areas.
Imoukhuede lauded Softcom and other partners over their technical expertise in implementing the N-Power project, describing Softcom’s intervention as a strong factor that brought government’s objectives to light.
“A traditional method of implementing the program would have limited enrolment and training delivery to under 40,000 participants; however, with the aid of technology, the programme was able to enrol over 500,000 beneficiaries for the graduate and non-graduate programme across the 774 local governments in Nigeria,” Imoukhuede said.
Expressing his delight at the successful implementation of the N-Power project, Imoukhuede stated, “Nigeria now has a transparent, replicable and scalable model that can be adopted across all tiers of government and for all types of development initiatives. N-Power will expand into other connected economic clusters that will ensure sustainability and inclusive growth.”
The critical role technology played in the implementation of the N-Power project from the application stage to selection, training and remuneration processes was emphasised.
According to Adedeji: “We designed a platform that guaranteed transparent recruitment, and beneficiary verification, which ensured that no ghost worker existed in the N-Power programme. In addition, the platform enabled effective and seamless multi-stakeholder collaboration.”
