By Daniel Tyokua
The minister of the Federal Captial Territory, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello has said the Administration would work with National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA, in the management of the FCT.
Bello stated this when he received a delegation from the National Information Technology Development Agency, (NITDA), led by its Director General, Engr Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi on a courtesy visit to the FCTA.
In a statement issued by Anthony Ogunleye, Chief Press Secretary to the minister, said he foresees a future where Abuja is run fully as an ICT compliant city.
The Minister said, “At the FCT level, many of our agencies are already, in one form or the other, using ICT to do our work and we are moving towards improving that”. He assured his guests that the FCTA will support NITDA in its quest also to achieve this shared dream for the nation’s capital.
“Being in Abuja, I can assure you that we will always be available to partner with your organization to deploy whatever you need to deploy, whether it is solutions to schools that are e-based or solution to security matters or traffic management or the health system. In all these areas, we have some form of IT deployment already”, said Bello.
The Minister continued; “So, it’s just a matter of streamlining and upgrading and you can use Abuja as one giant platform where you can showcase what is possible so that when people come in here, you will always show them what you are doing because all the institutions that you will require to do all the deployments that you need to do are available within the FCT Administration”.
Malam Bello also stressed that Nigeria can achieve a lot by leveraging on the ICT platform, adding that, “From what we have seen and what we read, the youth population is already fully ready for it. He continued “For many young Nigerians e- banking is the only form of banking that they know”. He also added that “It is very obvious also, if there is anything about COVID-19, is the fact that it has brought to the fore, the need for technology and the need for e-governance”.
On his part, the DG of NITDA, Engr. Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi had solicited the support of the FCT Administration towards the establishment of an Information Technology Hub in the Territory, akin to the popular Silicon Valley in California.
