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The acquisition of digital literacy and entrepreneurship will help to create new jobs and upscale opportunities across sectors for Nigerian youths, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has stressed.
The Director General, NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa, Abdullahi reveled this at the recent graduation ceremony of 1,353 beneficiaries of Digital Apprentices by ENGAUSA Global Tech Hub in collaboration with (NITDA).
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During the graduation, young Nigerians including Almajiris and out-of-school children displayed various talents which they have learnt at the ENGAUSA Global Tech Hub especially in computer networking, drone technology, CCTV installation & access control, graphics design, electric fencing, smart home automation, and advanced smart phones repairs among others.
Abdullahi stated that the training of unlettered youths to master skills of handling computers and other digital services is a milestone 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).
Adding that it is part of its strategic move to ensure Nigeria achieves 95 percent digital literacy by the year 2030,
With 30% of the participants totaling 400 of them establishing their startups while some of them already have a workforce of 10 employees, he expressed confidence in the overall output of the training, stating that it will help reduce unemployment and alleviate poverty in the country.
His words: “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.”
Abdullahi commended the organisers for their effort in translating technology vocabulary to local language to ease understanding, adding 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.
Speaking earlier, Auwal Ringim, the Proprietor of Engausa Digital Literacy said the event is encouraging the development of skills and ideas from inception to actualisation.
The CEO of ENGAUSA Global Tech Hub, Mustapha Habu Ringim, commended the NITDA for the successful completion of the scheme noting that his organisation has achieved a lot by graduating the total number of 1,700 since the commencement of the scheme from 2019 till date.
