Kashifu Inuwa, Director General, National Information Technology Development Agency, (NITDA) said that it has successfully built the capacity of over 3 million Nigerians, as part of its strive to accomplish the facilitation of 95 percent digitally literate population by 2030.
Speaking at the Council on Global Partner Summit held at Orlando, Florida, United States of America, Inuwa provided a glimpse into Nigeria’s burgeoning digital economy as well as its vision of equipping Nigerians with relevant digital literacy skills.
He said, “NITDA has empowered 3.3 million Nigerians with several digital literacy and skills through multi-sectoral capacity-building programmes such as Stem Bootcamp for Kids, digital skills training for students, public servants, journalists, Digital Marketing, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Programming, Digital Entrepreneurship and many more.”
He informed the global participants that Nigeria would ensure massive digital literacy training for her youths to position the country as a global Information Technology hub that could address the global digital skills shortage, adding that the country is committed to developing policies, regulations, and initiatives that would deepen digital literacy and skills in the country.
The NITDA henchman canvassed that Mobile Information Literacy should be included into future versions of Certiport’s IC3 Global Digital Literacy Standard in order to meet the requirements of millions of Nigerian and African citizens who rely on their mobile phones to connect to and participate in the digital economy.
The three day event which saw six Nigerian students participating at Microsoft Office Specialist World Championship (MOSWC), who were selected during the Nigerian National Championship organised by ReadManna Empowerment Initiative (REI) was witnessed by global experts consisting of corporate executives, government officials, academicians, and industry influencers who were involved in the definition and positioning of digital literacy standards and validated delivery systems.
While commending the Nigeria’s representatives at the championship, Inuwa declared that they have made Nigeria proud and put the country at the forefront of global digital literacy and skills. He further described their emergence at the global competition as a demonstration of Nigeria’s immense human capital potential and a front runner in the race for a digital nation.
Inuwa eulogized ReadManna Empowerment Initiative for its efforts in promoting ICT education in Nigeria, urging other stakeholders to follow its example. “NITDA is willing to collaborate with similar organisations to further enhance digital literacy and skills across the country,” he noted.
In her remarks, the founder organisation, Edna Agusto, represented by Ms. Efeoma Olotu reaffirmed that the MOSWC is open to all students aged between 13 and 22 years who were enrolled in an academic institution.
She disclosed that interested academic institutions that would like to compete in future editions of MOSWC can always contact ReadManna Empowerment Initiative to successfully participate in the championship.
She said, “Nigeria is indeed blessed with enormous human capital that has continued to assert its position as a country to reckon with on the global stage, especially in the area of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). With continued talent nurturing, Nigerians’ indomitable spirit to attain success, government support, as well as the commitment of key stakeholders in the ICT sector like ReadManna, Nigerians will continue to thrive and inadvertently propel the country’s standing as a leader in the digital sphere in this technology-driven era.”
The NITDA’s boss used the platform to present Nigeria’s recently launched National Digital Literacy Framework to global experts while they in turn shared valuable insights into how digital literacy is being implemented in other countries and offered to support Nigeria to achieve its objective of achieving 95% digital literacy by 2030.
