Digital Literacy key to Nigeria’s Socio-economic Drive- NTDA Boss

The Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa has described the acquisition of digital literacy and entrepreneurship as key to Nigeria’s socio-economic drive.

The acquisition was part of a strategic move to ensure Nigeria achieves 95 percent digital literacy by the year 2030.

Inuwa stated this in Kano state, during the graduation ceremony of 1,353 beneficiaries of Digital Apprentices by ENGAUSA Global Tech Hub in collaboration with NITDA.

He reiterated NITDA’s readiness in fostering digital literacy and entrepreneurship to create job opportunities for the teeming Nigerian youth.

During the graduation, young Nigerians including Almajiris and out-of-school children displayed various talents which they have learned at the ENGAUSA Global Tech Hub which includes, Computer Networking, Drone Technology, CCTV Installation, Access Control, Graphics Design, Electric Fencing, Smart Home Automation, Advanced Smart Phones Repairs, among others.

According to the Agency, 30% of the participants totaling 400 are establishing their startups while some of them already have a workforce of 10 employees.

Given this, the Director General expressed delight at the overall output of the training.

He stated that it would propel a reduction in the unemployment rate and alleviate poverty in the country.

“I am very excited to see this graduation of 1,353 students who participated in the digital literacy programme organised by Engausa in partnership with NITDA. This further showed that we have talent in Nigeria and talent is the human component of the digital technology, therefore, we need to harness the talent for economic prosperity.

“We are graduating them mostly to promote digital literacy and digital job creation, which is part of Federal Government Digital Economy. Out of these 1,353 graduates, about 400 have started their independent busineses, employing others to work under them,” he said.

Inuwa stated that the training of unlettered youths to master skills of handling Computers and other digital services was a milestone, which he said was in line with the implementation of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) and NITDA’s Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan (SRAP 2021-2024).

He  commended the organisers for their effort in translating technology vocabulary to local language to ease understanding.

Inuwa stated that most of the technologically advanced nations like France, Japan, India, and China use their mother tongues to teach their young scientists, thus Nigeria should consider doing so.

95 percent Digital Literacy

While reiterating NITDA’s ambitious target of achieving 95 percent digital literacy, as well as a short-term plan of training one million developers in the next 18 months, Inuwa gave 100 smart devices, courtesy of NITDA, to the performing students who have excelled in various digital skills among their peers.

Speaking earlier, the Proprietor of Engausa Digital Literacy, Auwal Ringim
said the event was encouraging the development of skills and ideas from inception to actualisation.

He said the reason why he introduced the training on Programming, Video Editing, Blogging, Graphic Designs, Web Design, Android development, Social Media Literacy, and Digital Marketing, was to identify natural talents from young persons who have not been to conventional schools to acquire basic digital skill so that they can be self-reliant.

The CEO of ENGAUSA Global Tech Hub, Mustapha Habu Ringim, while making his remark, appreciated the support of NITDA towards the successful completion of the scheme.

He noted that his organisation has achieved a lot by graduating a total number of 1,700 since the commencement of the scheme in 2019 till the present.

He added that a good number of those who graduated are entrepreneurs, and workers in digital-driven firms and renewable energy, while some of them are freelancers in digital technology.

Confidence Okwuchi