The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, says Nigeria’s march towards attaining 95 per cent digital literacy in 2030 now looks more promising than ever before.
Mr Pantami stated this at the weekend during the graduation of participants at a two-week Digital Job Creation Training for the North-East which was facilitated by the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, in Gombe State.
According to him, the digital literacy target is in line with the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy, NDEPS, 2020 – 2030.
The minister said: “The reason we train citizens is 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.’
“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.”
Mr Pantami, therefore, urged 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.
“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.
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.
