By Ahmad Sirajo Makama, Abuja
The Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, has officially commissioned the NITDA Innovation Space, a dedicated hub designed to equip youth with high-demand digital skills and career strategies.
Speaking at the event in Abuja, Abdullahi highlighted the urgency of preparing young Nigerians for a shifting labor market, noting that millions of graduates enter the workforce annually into roles that largely did not exist decades ago. He stressed that success today depends on acquiring relevant skills and developing a clear career plan.
“You need to have the skills that will help you succeed wherever you find yourself in life. And secondly, you need to have a good career plan. A good career plan is something that can answer big questions like, where do you want to be in the next few years? And many of us, we don’t think about this.”
The NITDA boss also shared a personal experience from his own service year in 2004, where volunteering to build a website led to a 1.5 million Naira contract and launched his career. According to him, “You need to create visibility. If you stand out, you don’t have to ask for jobs.”
The DG further revealed a partnership with the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) to implement a new digital solution nationwide that addresses challenges faced by corps members during their service year.
He emphasised that NITDA, which hosts approximately 700 corps members annually, aims to provide a testbed for young entrepreneurs to build businesses or earn permanent positions through exceptional performance.
In his remarks, the Director General of NYSC, Brigadier General Olakunle Oluseye Nafiu, lauded NITDA for its transformative approach to youth service, describing the agency as a model for adding value to young Nigerians.
“The future of this country is here with these youths, we are going back with stories that at NITDA, they are not just accepting corps members; they are transforming them into better Nigerians.”
He expressed profound pride in corps members who pitched market-ready digital solutions, asserting that such initiatives prove the continued relevance of the NYSC scheme in the modern era.
The DG revealed that the NYSC is undergoing its own digital evolution, announcing that starting with the 2026 Batch A-Stream One, the scheme has officially digitized its ID card system. Corps members can now access their identification via digital dashboards on phones or computers, eliminating the traditional reliance on paper cards.
Furthermore, Brigadier General Nafiu expressed strong interest in a PPA (Place of Primary Assignment) verification and management solution developed by corps members at NITDA. He called for a formal collaboration between the two agencies to integrate this technology with existing NYSC systems to streamline the monitoring and authentication of serving members nationwide.
Impressed by the “Idea to Impact” programme, which transforms early-stage concepts into practical solutions, the DG challenged other Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) to stop treating corps members as temporary labor and start treating them as “solution providers.”
Another highlight of the event was the live demonstration of two functional solutions by Team Sentinel & Trivergent (NITDA Smart ID Mgt) and Team COPA (NYSC Corps360).
The solutions developed under the Idea2Impact Programme reflect NITDA’s progress from ideation to real-world application.
