COVID-19 accelerated digital tech adaptation – NITDA

DIRECTOR General of National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa, described the outbreak of COVID-19 as one pandemic that accelerated adoption of digital technologies in all sphere of life.

  He made this remark in a lecture titled ‘Implementing the National Digital Policy Economy for Digital Nigeria: Issues and Prospects for participants of Senior Executive Course 43’ at National Institute for Policy and Strategies, Kuru in Plateau State.

  According to him, the disruption to our daily lives, orchestrated by the pandemic, is repositioning the digital economy and giving it an edge over traditional economies.

  “In Nigeria too, digital technology companies like; Flutterwave, Jumia, Buypower, etc., are all attestation to the potential growth of the digital economy. The DE4A initiative recognises that the digital economy can help to accelerate the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the World Bank Group’s twin goals (Group, 2021). For Nigeria, a country in dire need to diversify its economy, digital economy activities are key for diversification because they transcend all aspect of human endeavour,” he explained.

  Noting that many scholars have tried to come up with some guiding definitions on digital technology, and by extension digital economy, Inuwa said digital technologies are changing the world at a faster pace than previously experienced..

  “Though there is no specific definition of Digital Economy, the term was first coined in 1995 by Tapscott, saying digital economy is a kind of economy that focuses on digital technologies. It essentially covers all business, economic, socio-cultural activities that are supported by the web and other digital communication technologies. Digital economy is also referred to as Internet Economy, Web or New Economy. The backbone of the digital economy is hyper-connectivity, which means the growing interconnectedness of people, organisations, and machines which is promoted by internet mobile technology, and the Internet of Things (IoT),” he added.