On behalf of the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA), I heartily congratulate Mr. Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi the newly appointed Director-General/CEO of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA). Mr. Abdullahi is not new to the Agency as he served as Technical Assistant to Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, the former Director-General/CEO NITDA during his secondment from Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). At NITDA, Mr. Abdullahi coordinated major projects such as the Local Content initiatives that has increased ICT local production by over 200% in 2017 and the execution of strategies which have increased ICT’s contribution to Nigeria’s GDP by over 13% in Q2 2018. With the DG’s vision to transform NITDA into a smart organisation, permit me to extend my best wishes to him and wish him a successful tenor.
I also want to use this opportunity to appreciate the newly appointed Minister of Communication and outgoing Director-General of NITDA for successfully repositioning NITDA to focus on producing better regulations for development and promoting local content initiatives including the promotion of .NG domains for Federal Government Agencies.
NiRA and the Internet eXchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN) both represented by my humble self, attended the Africa Peering and Interconnection Forum organised by the Internet Society and African IXP Association (AFIX) in collaboration with Rogers Capital, which was held from 20-22 August, 2019 at the Intercontinental Hotel, Balaclava, Mauritius. The event was attended by global content providers, Chief Technology Officers, peering coordinators and IXPs. Participation at the event served as a platform to expand and develop the Internet in Africa, as well as network with global content providers and IXPs in an effort to attract them to Nigeria, and ultimately, improve network interconnection, lower the cost of connectivity, and increase locally available content, for the benefit of Internet users in Nigeria.
Muhammed Rudman
President, NIRA Executive Board