Going by the adoption of Information and Communications Technology tools in Nigeria, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Pantami has noted that the country’s march towards attaining 95 percent digital literacy in 2030, as contained in the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS), 2020 – 2030, now looks more promising than ever.
The Minister, who stated this during the weekend at a two-week Digital Job Creation Training for the North-East in Gombe, which was facilitated by the Nigerian Communications Commission, believes that digital skills are no longer considered a luxury, but necessities required in any business you do. If you want to be successful, you need to have digital skills.
“The reason we train citizens is because ICT is not just an independent sector but the key enabler of all other sectors today. It enables opportunities in education, in health, in agriculture, in security, in defense, in manufacturing, in trade, in investment and in industry,” he said.
While urging the participants to adopt innovation-driven enterprises and to utilize the training they have received to improve their economic status and make Nigeria a better place, Prof. Pantami stated Nigeria has to utilise ICT in order to make the country a better place. “We must use ICT even for our personal economic benefits amongst others. Therefore, we want to encourage you not to waste your time online but rather to use the knowledge you have acquired to make Nigeria a better place and at the same time, derive many economic benefits from it,” he said.
The Digital Job Creation Training is a two-week programme targeted at youth desirous of developing and enhancing their ICT skills in order to promote and enhance growth in the yet untapped and commercially viable digital economy both locally and globally. Each participant at the training received starter packs comprising laptop with accessories, MiFi Modem with three months data subscriptions, and some money.