The Federal Government has empowered Nigerians with Digital Jobs Creation skills across 12 states of the country.
Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami), Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, disclosed this when he presided over the Virtual Closing Ceremony of the Digital Jobs Creation training which took place on Friday, 30th of April, 2021.
Uwa Suleiman (Mrs), Spokesperson to the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, In a statement released on Thursday, said that the training, which was coordinated by the Ministry, commenced on the 8th of March, 2021 and took place in 12 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)”.
He explained that the objective of the training was to ensure that Nigerians have the adequate digital access and digital literacy skills required to create digital jobs that can drive the Digital Economy of the country.
This, he noted, is in line with the Digital Nigeria Programme launched by His Excellency, 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 minister further revealed that the Digital Job Creation Programme align with several pillars of the National Digital Economy Policy for a Digital Nigeria, including Pillar #2 on Digital Literacy and Skills.
According to him, “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.
“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,” he added.
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 one year broadband subscription.
The Honourable Minister urged participants to take the opportunity given to them with all seriousness and ensure that they make good use of the knowledge and tools that have been provided to create jobs for themselves and others in various sectors of the economy.
He also encouraged them to take advantage of the mentorship opportunities that will be made available and to commit to continuous acquisition of skills.
