Kashifu Inuwa, the Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), made this disclosure at the Policy Dialogue session in collaboration with the Office of the Presidency, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture & Food Security and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) at the Barcelona Hotel, Abuja.

The Policy Dialogue Session which with the theme: “Deepening Partnership for Scale-up of Information & Communications Technology for Development (ICT4D) for Smallholder Farmers in Nigeria is aimed at fostering partnership among the relevant players in the ecosystem to scale solutions for farmers in enhancing productivity.

Giving more insight into his disclosure during his opening remarks, Inuwa said that the policy dialogue is a step in the right direction towards actualising the renewed hope agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR in diversifying the economy through the digital transformation of critical sectors in the country.

“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is committed to uplifting Nigeria through digital transformation, innovation and economic growth”.

“To achieve this, the President has mandated our Ministry, the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy to accelerate the Nigerian economic diversification by enhancing productivity in critical sectors through technological innovation”, he stated.

While maintaining that the agricultural sector contributes about 70% to businesses in Africa and contributes about 21% to the country’s GDP, he said that priority in terms of technology penetration should be given to it considering its importance.

Buttressing the importance of technology on agricultural productivity, the NITDA DG added that:

“Nigeria in terms of land size is almost 22 times larger than the Netherlands but in terms of production, Netherlands is the second largest agricultural producer in the world because of its use of technology”.

Speaking on NITDA’s commitment to implementing the presidential mandate, Inuwa stated that the agency worked with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture in crafting the National Digital Agricultural Strategy which also birthed the development of the National Adopted Village for Smart Agriculture.

“We have implemented that initiative in six states in collaboration with different institutions, including academia, fintech and telco companies and we have established a platform that provides a marketplace for the participants as well as to connect them with financial institutions”, he added.

He further noted that a wallet is provided on the platform to ensure that funds are controlled and properly utilised for the purpose and beneficiaries it is meant for.

“I believe that with this kind of partnership, we can scale up that platform and make agri-business a fancy business for our youth to be part of it”, he concluded.

Earlier in her welcome address, Mrs. Dede Ekoue, the Country Director of the IFAD Country Office, Abuja, thanked the NITDA DG for his participation in the steadfast commitment to putting NITDA’s high-quality technical expertise to the service of enhanced digital solutions for farmers.

She said that IFAD is committed to promoting the empowerment of smallholder farmers globally and in Nigeria through several solutions and is scaling up its support in digital solutions.

“We invite all stakeholders from the public sector, the private sector, civil society, farmer organizations, and development partners, to discuss the best approaches to strengthen our partnership and our digital solution. We are confident that together we can do more, we can do better, and we can do faster to increase access of smallholder farmers to digital solutions”, she noted.

In his remark, Dr. Kingsley Uzoma, the Special Senior Assistant to the President on Agribusiness and Productivity Enhancement, commended the DG NITDA for his active participation with the Office of the President in different policy developments.

He asserted that sustained efforts at digital literacy in partnership with key agencies like NITDA as well as the private sector will be critical in ensuring greater technology absorption by smallholder farmers which can translate to improved productivity, extensive technical upscaling, promoting best practices and increased trade.

He also expressed the need for a centrally coordinated agricultural data hub that would aggregate and provide insights on open and targeted data that is relevant for planning, policy direction and essential decision-making.

“Increased collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture & Food Security, and NITDA is necessary to implement a national digital dialogue strategy to further leverage technology for advancements from the agricultural sector”, he averred.

Inuwa reiterated this during a working visit on him by the Country Director, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Mrs Dede Ekoue.

The Director-General maintained that NITDA has continued to undertake several initiatives towards supporting smallholder farmers and enhancing productivity within the farming sector.

“It is part of our mandate to improve National Food Security through Information Technology (I.T) because globally today, I.T is regarded as one of, if not the best tool(s) when it comes to enhancing productivity in Agriculture, as it is evident, how Smart Agriculture is really increasing food production around the world”.

“We strongly believe that if we in Nigeria embrace this technology, it can be a game changer in the sector”, Inuwa asserted.

Beyond utilising ICT to improve food productivity for subsistence farmers, the DG was also assertive that it will attract the youthful population to take up farming as a business which he said would somewhat retire the narrative that ‘farming is an activity solely for people in suburbs or villages’.

“With technology, you can have a farm at the backyard of your house in the city, you can even explore vertical farming, in developed countries, some do theirs on the rooftop or indoors”.

“So, the technology is available and with the strong belief in our ingenuities, we can do something similar if not better”, Inuwa averred.

While briefing his guests on some of NITDA’s collaborations and efforts in the sector, Inuwa recalled that the Agency had since started a relationship with the Ministry of Agriculture which took off with the development of “Smart Agric Strategy” for them, followed by some initiatives like NAVSA, e.t.c.

“We also collaborate with private sectors, multinational companies and high institutions like Universities, where we leverage on their research centres to create clusters and the ecosystem as well, as we always urge them to come for proof of concept on different technologies”.

“Suffice it to say that we strongly believe in collaboration because we know that the success of digital transformation does not rest on the individual but the collective approach of the ecosystem, and that explains why we always insist on carrying everyone along with us”, the Director-General avowed.

About the partnership request by IFAD for the Agency to participate in its forthcoming policy dialogue, and explore other possible channels/areas to collaborate on, the NITDA Boss appreciated the hand of friendship extended to the Organisation and confirm the Agency’s readiness to come on board, noting that it is NITDA’s culture to partner any individual, group or body that has a viable proposition targeted at adding value to Nigeria and Nigerians.

“It is not only about the policy dialogue, when you are done with that, like the last one we were part of, don’t forget to reach out to us during your capacity building plans because we can benefit from that as well, especially to update the knowledge of our teammates”

“The goal is to expand our horizons and we are already working with Abuja Technology Village to build all these technologies on the farmland we secured, so, this visit will definitely help us know how to go about that”, Inuwa said.

He assured the IFAD team of NITDA’s unflinching resolve to deepen the partnership between the two organisations and welcome other bodies they highlighted would be brought in.

The Country Director, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Mrs Dede Ekoue who led the delegation, earlier informed NITDA’s Management team that the visit was to strengthen the existing partnership and thank the Agency for its support at different times it was sought after, particularly for the Multi-stakeholder Dialogue on ICT4D for smallholder farmers that was held in May, 2023.

Mrs Ekoue went on to explain that the Dialogue helped the team undertake several activities, including capacity building, exchange of visits, among others.

“Now, we are going to have another policy dialogue to strengthen collaborations among all the institutions involved in extending all the digital solutions to smallholder farmers”.

“It is a very important meeting that demonstrates once again the leadership of NITDA in scaling up ICT4D and we are very pleased with to be having this discussion because it will aid us to straighten out some pillars and strategies for the benefit of smallholder farmers in Nigeria”, Ekoue stressed.

She expressed gratitude for NITDA DG’s assurances in granting IFAD’s collaboration requests which she mentioned would assist in leveraging community of actors, as NITDA is not only supporting the course but also would mobilise the support of other key stakeholders, invariably, enabling smallholder farmers access digital solutions across board.

The partnership will facilitate the provision of diaspora cash remittance services to rural recipients in Kenya through the Savings and Credit Cooperative Society (SACCOs).

Tagged the Affordable Remittances and Enhanced Financial Inclusion Programme, the initiative will enable unbanked rural remittance receivers to access formal banking services through a basic and transparent bank account and see Interswitch and its partners collaboratively train and build capacity for over 1,350 SACCO members.

Credit Bank projects that during the initial phase of the programme, it will reach at least 1,200 Kenyans living in the diaspora and facilitate at least 1,500 rural recipients back home to open a bank account for the first time.

Thus far, the initiative has onboarded three SACCOs that will be engaged in the next 16 months, with projections to onboard seven more over the next 36 months.

The SACCOs will have their staff appointed as sub-agents in the rural Kenyan areas which are currently underserved by formal remittance providers.

Speaking on the partnership, Mitchell Elegbe, Founder and General Managing Director of Interswitch Group, stated that the collaboration is indeed a significant stride towards bridging the financial divide, empowering more individuals and businesses in Kenya with access to modern payment solutions, and creating a more inclusive financial ecosystem for all.

“This partnership with Credit Bank of Kenya and IFAD marks an important step as we continue to expand our reach and provide innovative solutions for our customers worldwide. As we all know, remittance plays a crucial role in the lives of many people, and we are committed to making it simpler, faster, and more affordable” he added.

According to Romana Rajput, the Country General Manager of Interswitch Kenya,

“SACCOs form an important part of our financial services in Kenya where we come together to save money and improve the quality of our lives through lower interest rates loans to acquire important purchases like land, homes, educate our children, improve our businesses and much more. Working with SACCOs and their members will make transfers quicker and more convenient for beneficiaries.”

Diaspora remittances have grown in recent years to become Kenya’s biggest source of foreign exchange, largely driven by a growing number of Kenyan immigrants to Western economies such as the US, UK and Canada, and also a growing Kenyan migrant labour force in the Middle East.

“Diaspora remittances have an integral role in emerging economies like Kenya and with an estimated $4 billion sent back home each year, they present a crucial source for foreign exchange and capital flows into the Country, said Credit Bank CEO, Betty Korir, adding that “Initiatives like this will encourage Kenyans across the world to send money home while ensuring the largest possible portion of this money gets to rural recipients. The partnership will cut down the number of intermediaries to facilitate transfers directly to the last mile. We believe that we can take advantage of our wide SACCO networks within our rural communities to make remittances more accessible at the least cost.”

This collaboration which will deepen financial inclusion efforts in Kenya, highlights Interswitch’s vision of a continent where payments are a seamless part of everyday life as the tech giant continues to leverage strategic partnerships of this nature to drive convenient value-exchange across borders.