The Federal Government on Tuesday said it would invest N12 billion to fund digital economy research projects to ensure the country benefits from digital transformation dividends.
Dr Bosun Tijani, Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, said this at the opening ceremony of the 18th edition of the International Conference on Theory and Practices of Electronic Governance (ICEGOV)in Abuja.
The four-day programme has its theme as ‘ Shaping the Future of Digital Governance Through Cooperation, Innovation and Inclusion’ and it was organised by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA).
Tijani said that platforms like ICEGOV had created the opportunity for countries to research into the abilities of emerging technologies and balancing them with policies as it affects societies.
He said Nigeria’s participation in ICEGOV of 2024 highlighted the need for the country to research on digital economy, adding that the records won the country the confidence of partners to host the 2025 edition.
“The Nigerian government is not just doing this as a show because immediately after ICEGOV last year, we funded over 55 research projects.
“At the minute, we are putting together about N12 billion to fund further research projects that are focused on the digital economy.
“We are setting up three research clusters of six universities, each one focused on artificial intelligence, another focus on the biggest issue in our nation today, which is connectivity, where we are investing significantly.
“Thirdly, because of our population, we are also funding another research cluster that is focused on digital skills and literacy,’’ Tijani said.
The minister also said that digital technologies were now the core of human activities, adding that without it societies remained underdeveloped.
According to him, it is important that these technologies are no longer just seen as economic tools, but as tools to reshape society, govern society as well.
Ms Elsa Estevez, Chair of ICEGOV Steering Committee, while reflecting on the theme of the conference, said that AI and the associated risks required countries, entities, governments at all levels to cooperate.
“In the past years, we were profoundly affected by digitally driven innovations, and we often adapt them without much reflection and such innovations dramatically change the way we interact, socially, work, build and complement our capacities.
“We need to ensure that innovations are not just technological, but human centered and contributing to better societies.
“For inclusion, governments, states need to listen and moderate discussions about public affairs, shape political agendas to respond to uncovered needs, secure the digital space of discussions on fake speech, fake news and political manipulation.’’
She said that securing the public digital space requires regulation, education and awareness, all based on sound information ethics.
Malam Kashifu Inuwa, Director-General of NITDA said the government had made plans to integrate digital literacy skill into school curricula in 2026.
Inuwa said the government needed to do that to ensure that the technology growth rate of the country’s youthful population was in accordance with government initiatives.
“In Africa, we have a very young population, our citizens are digitally native and they are all online, therefore governments need to meet them where they are.
“We have so many initiatives in Nigeria based on the ministry’s knowledge policy, we have the digital literacy framework, where we are working on integrating digital literacy into our formal education.
“ As of today, we have the approval in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and directive of the President that by next year, we should have digital literacy and skills integrated into our formal education.’’
Inuwa also said that the government was putting measures in place to ensure public servants became digitally literate for better service delivery in the public sector.
