In an effort geared towards engaging the relevant stakeholders towards the implementation of the Strategic Road Map and Action Plan (SRAP) 2021-2024 of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), the Agency's Director General, Mallam Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, CCIE has urged the Nigerian Internet Registration Association (NIRA) to align with the Agency’s initiatives for them to fully enjoy its benefits.

Mallam Abbdullahi made this call when he received the NIRA President, Mr Muhammed Rudman and his team on a working visit to present the Association’s annual report to the Agency in Abuja.

 He disclosed that NITDA, in its dynamism, has a lot of initiatives lined up for implementation and it is necessary for relevant stakeholders such as NiRA to keep up with the pace of the Agency by promptly keying into these initiatives. “At NITDA, we are re-branding and re-calibrating ourselves with the new aspirations and realities of the digital ecosystem thereby going through so many transformations and you really need to key in and align in what we do," Mallam Abdullahi stated.

The NITDA DG while stating that the Agency has set targets for internal stakeholders and special purpose vehicles of the Agency to re-align them with the repositioning of the Agency, urged NIRA to come on board in the implementation of some of the initiatives of the SRAP document. “We don’t want to come up with regulations that will take over the MOU we have with you so we really need to sit down together and put you in our plans”, he noted.

With regards to a symbiotic relationship and support to NIRA, the DG disclosed the Agency’s commitment to enhancing the promotion and adoption of the association’s policy by mandating Data Protection Compliance Organisations (DPCO’s) and public service institutions to comply with the ‘.ng’ domain policy. “Our Digital Transformation Technical Working Group (DTTWG) committee has written to 500 Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDA’s) on the need to comply with the ‘.ng’ policy and we have inaugurated about 100” he mentioned.

Mallam Abdullahi however sought the association’s assistance to be encouraging their customers to comply with the provisions of the Nigerian Data Protection Regulations and urged them to actively get involved in all the Agency’s events such as the Gulf Information Technology Exhibition and the Digital Nigeria.

“We need to agree on what you are going to do so that we can objectively measure and appraise your performance”, the DG concluded.

The chairman of the Association, Mr Rudman in his presentation detailing the Association’s Annual Report highlighted some of the association’s challenges and efforts in increasing their revenue for the development of the digital ecosystem and the Nation at large. He however gave assurance of the association’s commitment to aligning with NITDA’s strategic initiatives.

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