From Adanna Nnamani, Abuja
As the Federal Government prepares to launch 5G technology in the country, the President and Chief Executive Officer of Digital Bridge Institute (DBI), Prof Mohammed Ajiya, has called on Human Resource Managers/Chief Executives Officers in Government Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs), as well their counterparts in the private sector of the economy, to urgently embrace Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and the digital revolution in their operations.
Prof Ajiya, made the call during a recent Breakfast Day meeting with Human Resources Managers and Training Executives, organised by the Digital Bridge Institute recently at the headquarters of the institute in Abuja.
The DBI president stressed the urgent need for Nigerians to key into the digital world, declaring that the future is digital, especially as the COVID-19 pandemic has opened new ways of doing things using ICT.
According to him, the DBI was established in 2004 by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to facilitate capacity growth in ICT.
Prof Ajiya added that as an institution placed to train people and raise capacity, it was necessary to meet with the Human Resource Managers and Training Executives across all the sectors of the economy.
The DBI CEO stated the deployment of 5g in Nigeria will inspire a lot of digital innovations and breakthroughs in the ICT sector.
‘The 5G that we are talking about, the policy which has been approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) recently has already been launched in several countries. With 5G, we are going to get so many things connected together and the future is data. So, we thought as an institution placed to train people, to raise capacity we should share what we thought the future should be,’ he said.
Speaking on the importance of the meeting and ICT, Prof Ajiya said: ‘We call it Human Resource Day because we invite heads of Human Resource to come and share with us and we share with them what we do and take you into what the future will be. We are now on the verge of what we call the Digital Revolution, some call it the Industrial Revolution. We are all aware that with the emergence of COVID-19, we now have what we call the new normal, working from home or from anywhere, and not necessarily in the office.
‘This is showing us a bit of what the future holds. The future really is digital. In a few years to come, the way we work now will not be the way we are going to be working, they will be overtaken by the new way of doing things. The way of doing things hinges around technology, information technology. For you to utilise information technology, for you to use it, you must be conversant with the tools that you will use in processing and using the information technology. These tools are nothing but the computer and when I say computer, it does not necessarily mean desktop or laptop. Our phones are also computers, and, in many cases, they are even more powerful. So, the future, whether we like it or not, is going to be digital. It is coming, and we must embrace it.’
Also speaking, the Chairman, Board of DBI, Olusegun Gbeleyi, a former Speaker, Ogun State House of Assembly, thanked the Human Resources managers for believing in DBI to be a trainer for their various institutions.
Gbeleyi assured of DBI readiness to help the participants improve on their ICT knowledge with its world-class facilities and arrays of professional tutors.
‘I want to reassure you that we are ready to take you to the next level. We want to partner with you and ensure that we provide adequate and efficient training in digital and telecom studies to meet the global standard of e-economy.
‘Everything now is being driven digitally, the COVID-19 has opened our eyes when for the first time globally executive council, cabinet meetings of nations are being held virtually. This was not happening before and so many other things can be achieved by these devices and we want to encourage every department to understand this and allow the process of your work to be done by the digital process,’ he said.