The Nigerian government has began the Digital Economy Employability Programme, aimed at empowering the young people in the country.
This is also to sustain its effort in driving inclusive Digital adoption, optimisation and connecting young Nigerians to deeper opportunities in the Digital Economy.
The programme, which is carried by National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA and is targeted at the Youth Corp members, kick started in seven, National Youth Service Corps,NYSC camps simultaneously, nationwide.
Declaring the programme open at NYSC Camp in Kubwa, Abuja, Director General of NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa, said the programme was focused on providing Nigerians with modern and relevant digital literacy and skills that would expose, prepare and connect them to in-demand career opportunities that are available in the global digital economy.
Represented by Assistant Director, Digital Economy Development Department of the Agency Dr Ayodele Bakare, he explained that the programme was also expected to help create the opportunity for Nigerians to create job within the digital economy space which would ultimately help increase the contribution of ICT to the country’s GDP which currently stands at 18.44 percent.
According to Inuwa,”The implication of this projection is that many Nigerians, both in the IT and non IT space must acquire digital literacy and skills in order to thrive in this current fourth industrial revolution.
“Given our huge population of about 218 million and of which about 50 percent is constituted by youths, we have enough potential human capital to drive the data economy, and that is why we have decided to flag off this programme in seven NYSC strategic camps.
The NITDA Boss said he was of the believe that the NYSC camps hold the brightest and the most intelligent Nigerian youths.
“We believe that corps members will not only benefit from this programme, but will create a multiplier effect by transferring the knowledge and skills acquired during the course of this programme to other Nigerian and this will help the country realize its target of 95 percent digitally literate Nigerians by 2030. There is no better time to embrace digital transformation than now.
“The world is moving away from a natural resource-based economy to a digital and knowledge-based economy, more attention and efforts are being put into human capital and digital technologies and Nigeria should not be left out of this fast-moving train,” he said
He urged participants to harness the untapped potentials in the global Digital economic environment.
Confidence Okwuchi
