Africa’s digital destiny will not be shaped by imported apps or borrowed technologies but by the innovation and capacity built from within.
That was the powerful message delivered by the Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, CCIE, during a panel session at Sustainability Week Africa 2025, themed “Africa on Call: Digital Infrastructure for Jobs and Trade.”
Inuwa challenged African nations to end the cycle of exporting raw data to be processed abroad and then importing the finished products at a premium. He urged both governments and private sector leaders to invest in local digital infrastructure and capacity development that would empower the continent to own its digital ecosystem.
He cited the European Union’s EuroHPC initiative as a model example, noting how it evolved from a supercomputing project into an ecosystem of AI factories now driving innovation across multiple sectors.
According to the NITDA boss, Africa’s push for digital sovereignty must be anchored on the establishment of a comprehensive Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) built on two foundational layers.
“The first layer,” he explained, “should consist of shared platforms like connectivity, compute power, and data centers, while the second should include professional systems such as payment infrastructure, digital identity, and data exchange frameworks.”
Inuwa emphasized that technology should always serve human development rather than exist as an end in itself.
“Technology is not our ultimate goal; it is a tool to build a better life for our citizens. We must understand our own needs and design technology around them, not depend on importing DPI from other countries,” he said.
His remarks resonated strongly with participants, reigniting the call for Africa to become a creator rather than a consumer of digital innovation — one capable of defining its own path in the rapidly evolving global digital economy.
