By Emmanuel Elebeke

Minister of Communications Technology Mrs Omobola Johnson last week, inaugurated the newly constituted board of the National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA, charging them to guide indigenous technologies..

The ceremony which took place at the Federal Secretariat complex Abuja, was witnessed by stakeholders in the industry.

In her opening remarks, Johnson said that the Ministry is committed to leveraging on the tools of ICT for the socio economic development of the country and described the inauguration of the Board as a quantum leap in that direction.

She urged the members of the Board to work with NITDA and quickly identify how indigenous IT companies can grow, and come up with strategies on how to better achieve the objectives for which the Agency was established.

She decried low inclusion of women in ICTs, noting that only one female member was on the Board.

Responding, the Chairman of the Board, Dr. Tosin Ajayi reiterated the importance of ICT in global development, and descrbed ICT as a tool that will completely change the world, adding that the Ministry of Communications Technology is the most important ministry in the country because, without a knowledge-based economy, we will be retrogressive”.

Dr. Ajayi stated that “IT is the most important tool ever created by mankind and together with the able Management of NITDA; we will leave no stone unturned in exploiting the benefits of IT for the greater good of the country”.

In his remarks, the Acting Director General of NITDA, Dr. Ashiru Sani Daura, welcomed the team on board and assured them of the Agency’s full support in taking the IT industry to greater heights.