Fintech has helped many Nigerians out of poverty

The Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa, said on Tuesday that financial technology has helped move so many people in the country out of poverty.

Inuwah noted that the country is doing very well in the Fintech industry and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG), especially with the application of development regulatory approach and enabling policies to co-create the technology ecosystem.

The DG made the announcement at the Digital Finance Summit, a sideline event of the ongoing Gulf Information Technology Exhibition (GITEX), held in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Dubai.

While noting that 2021 was a record year for tech startups in Nigeria as more than 35 percent of direct investment into Africa came to Nigeria, the NITDA boss added that the achievement was not of publicity but of structural design.

“In 2019, the President redesigned and expanded our Ministry to cover Digital Economy and the Honorable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami formulated the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy for a Digital Nigeria; so that set the stage for the tech ecosystem in Nigeria,” Inuwa noted.

“Between 2017 to 2019, we have seen in Nigeria where farmers get access to money from the government and also, during COVID-19, many people did not have access to the released funds and when you deliver it in cash, it costs a lot.

“Start-ups are doing fantastically well, but the government also needs to level the playing field so that they can plan better,” the DG said.

He went on to emphasize that the government needs to work with the UN, the World Bank and others to see how they can help build the infrastructure for Fintech to reach the unattainable to be connected.

Inuwah told the audience that the Startup Act passed by the National Assembly and awaiting presidential assent will address almost if not all the challenges plaguing the tech ecosystem.
Responding to questions regarding Nigeria’s efforts to embed environmental, social and governance ESG, he explained that the Federal Government has been working diligently to create an enabling environment for startups to thrive as the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy formulated several guidelines to help drive forward. the digital economy.

“The guidelines are ecosystem friendly for startups,” when we talk about the digital economy, we need three keys to run it, which include digital identity, payment system and connectivity.

“We have other policies tailored to the bigger picture such as the National Broadband Plan, Digital Identity Policy and the National Fiscal Policy that drives financial inclusion in the country,” Inuwa maintained.

He declared that the agency’s development regulation is to look after the suppliers as much as the consumers.

“Without the enabling environment, ESG alone cannot help them because ESG sometimes sees it as self-centered because as a supplier when you come up with self-regulation or ESG, you do it in a way that enables you to excel.

“The government is looking at technology beyond seeing just a capitalist or a consumer, we are working with the ecosystem in a way that gives them the opportunity to develop new indigenous solutions that have a global impact.,” the DG added.