From Outsourcing To AI-Enabled Global Services: NITDA DG Positions Nigeria For The Next Digital Economy

By Godson Umejiego, Bureau Chief, The Americas and Angeline Mgbele, Bureau Chief, Northern Nigeria

Nigeria’s ambition to become a globally competitive destination for digital services received further impetus on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly (UNGA81), as the Director-General/CEO of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Mallam Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, participated in the “Hire from Nigeria” session organised by the Nigeria Economic and Trade Advancement Programme (NATEP).

This is according to a press statement e-authored by the Director of Corporate Communications and Media Relations at NITDA, Hajia Hadiza Umar.

Per the NITDA statement, the NITDA DG joined the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Jumoke Oduwole, and the Minister of Education, Dr. Moruf Alausa, in a strategic conversation on impact

sourcing, global trade, skills and inclusive job creation, highlighting Nigeria’s growing readiness to deliver globally competitive, technology-enabled services.

Mallam Abdullahi emphasised that Nigeria’s competitive advantage must go beyond traditional outsourcing stating that with the rapid transformation being driven by Artificial Intelligence, the country had an opportunity to build a distinctive position around AI-augmented, IT-enabled services, equipping Nigerians not merely to use emerging technologies, but to understand, shape, develop and create economic value with them.

The NITDA boss highlighted Nigeria’s evolving frameworks around data protection, digital identity, cybersecurity, digital infrastructure assurance, data classification, sovereign cloud and software quality assurance, noting that trust, security and regulatory certainty were essential to attracting global businesses and positioning Nigeria as a dependable destination for digital services.

In this regard, the NITDA DG referenced Project BRIDGE, which targeted the deployment of 90,000 kilometres of fibre infrastructure, alongside the Cloud First Policy and other measures aimed at attracting private-sector investment in computing infrastructure and AI factories.

Abdullahi also underscored the importance of representation in the AI economy, cautioning that communities and economies absent from the datasets used to develop intelligent systems risk becoming invisible in the technologies shaping the future.

Through initiatives such as the National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (NCAIR) and the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy, Nigeria is laying the foundation to develop indigenous AI capabilities while connecting its talent and innovation ecosystem to opportunities in the global digital economy.

The NITDA DG’s intervention reinforced a compelling proposition for Nigeria: Our opportunity, according to him, was not simply to supply talent to the world; it was to equip Nigerian talent with AI, trusted digital infrastructure and globally competitive capabilities to deliver higher-value services to the world.