Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
The federal government through the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has opened applications for a tech startup accelerator fellowship program to empower Nigerians with innovative ideas.
The Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Mr Bosun Tijani, said the preparations for the training commenced in August with a meeting of stakeholders in tech to co-create innovative ways to achieve the target.
He added that the meeting was the first in a series of ecosystem engagements to ensure that the government gets the best solutions from within.
The new initiative from the NITDA is part of the government’s drive to train one million Nigerians on technical skills by 2025.
President Bola Tinubu had also promised to create 1 million jobs through tech in the first 24 months of his administration.
Revealing more information about the programme, NITDA said the fellowship programme is being organised in partnership with Founder Institute, Abuja.
NITDA also said the fellowship aims to foster an entrepreneurial culture and drive the growth of innovation-driven startups in Nigeria.
Through the fellowship, 30 tech startups specialising in areas such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), robotics, cybersecurity, e-commerce, software, fintech, ed-tech, IoT, govtech, agritech, and biotechnology, will be trained.
Early-stage entrepreneurs interested in launching a tech startup in Nigeria are encouraged to apply for the programme.
The fellowship will be merit-based fellowship and will be open to full-time innovators in the tech sector, NITDA listed other eligibility criteria including:
“Applicants must have an innovation/idea tailored to Al, Robotics, Blockchain, E-commerce, Software, Fintech, Ed-tech, loT and Biotechnology, and Cybersecurity.
“Be available full-time and be able to devote 30 hours per week or more to this program.”
The deadline for the application is October 2, 2023, according to the information shared by the agency.
