From Adanna Nnamani, Abuja
The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, has said that Nigeria’s progress toward achieving 95 per cent digital literacy by 2030, as outlined in the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS), 2020 – 2030, now appears more promising than ever.
Pantami, who spoke when he presided over the graduation of participants at a two-week Digital Job Creation Training for the North-East in Gombe at the weekend in Gombe state, said: “The reason we train citizens is because 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 Minister advised the participants to adopt innovation-driven businesses and make use of the training they had received to improve their economic situation and make Nigeria a better place.
“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 defence, in manufacturing, in trade, in investment and in industry.”
“We have to utilise ICT in order to make our 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 times 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 Minister highlighted that recent reports of the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, about the performance of each sector of the economy, which indicated an unprecedented ICT’s contribution of 18.44 per cent to the economy, as very heart-warming about the prospects of the industry meeting with the expectations of the relevant policies.
“So, by implications, we set a record last year and we surpassed that record this second quarter of 2022 without involving the digital services. Only the ICT sector contributed 18.44 per cent, which can be attributed to the policies which we have introduced in the sector,” he said.
He said the training which has taken place in nine other states, including the Federal Capital Territory, will be conducted throughout the remaining geopolitical zones. 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 subscription, and some money.