The Federal government has trained citizens with digital skills in twelve states across the country.
This is to ensure that Nigerians have the adequate digital literacy, skills and access required to create digital jobs that can drive the Digital Economy of the country.
The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Pantami who presided over the virtual closing ceremony of the Digital Jobs Creation, training in Abuja, encouraged the beneficiaries to take advantage of the mentorship opportunities that will be made available and commit to the continuous acquisition of skills.
The training was coordinated by the Communications Ministry, in twelve states, covering all the 6 geopolitical zones in the country, as follows: Nasarawa and Kogi (North-Central), Imo and Enugu (South-East), Katsina and Jigawa (North-West), Oyo and Ogun (South-West), Borno and Taraba (North-East) and, Edo and Delta (South-South).
Dr Pantami urged participants to take the opportunity given to them with all seriousness and ensure that they make good use of the knowledge and tools provided to create jobs for themselves and others in various sectors of the economy.
In a statement by the Minister’s Spokesperson, Mrs Uwa Suleiman said the Ministry is championing a paradigm shift that lays an emphasis on skills, in preference to merely having degrees without skills, since degrees are meant to validate skills.
This is in line with the Digital Nigeria Programme launched by President Muhammadu Buhari, on the 19th of March 2020 and the Economic Sustainability Plan (ESP) of the Federal Government, which aims to enable Nigerians to respond robustly and appropriately to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and propose clear-cut strategies to keep existing jobs and create opportunities for new ones.
The Digital Job Creation Programme also aligns with several pillars of the National Digital Economy Policy for a Digital Nigeria, including Pillar #2 on Digital Literacy and Skills. This Pillar recognises the fact that citizens are the greatest assets in the digital economy and it supports the development of a large pool of digitally literate and digitally skilled citizens.
Participants were provided with laptops and some stipend in addition to the digital skills acquired during the training.
They will also be provided with a modem with a 1year broadband subscription.
PIAK
