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The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has assured that it will continue to give equal opportunities to the vulnerable especially people living with various forms of disabilities (PLWD) in the country. NITDA’s Director General, Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, gave the assurance at the just ended five days training and empowerment program on Digital Skills and Entrepreneurship organized for PLWD in Port Harcourt, Rivers state targeting PWLD in the entire south-south region.
The NITDA boss who was represented at the closing ceremony by the Acting Director, Corporate Planning and Strategy, Dr Aristotle Onumo, maintained that empowering differently able people in our society will promote digital inclusion.
While describing digital transformation as one of the panaceas to problems confronting the Nigeria, Abdullahi maintained that training and empowering the PLWD is part of the initiatives to lift Nigerians out of poverty, hence the approval of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) by president Muhammadu Buhari in 2019.
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He said the training and empowerment for the “differently able” in our society are to make them financially independent and close the digital divide created by their conditions.
“The empowerment program is one of the many opportunities given to Nigerians towards the implementation of the NDEPS agenda. This program also speaks to three pillars of NITDA’s Strategic RoadMap and Action Plan (SRAP) 2021-2024, which are Digital Transformation, Digital Inclusion, and Digital Literacy and Skills, all of which were designed to make Nigeria a sustainable digital economy,” said Abdullahi.
He added: “through the training, NITDA has been able to provide opportunities for participants to acquire the ability to use digital technology to create an enterprise that would culminate into wealth creation.”
While encouraging the beneficiaries of the empowerment program to continue to engage in personal development which will increase their productivity, Abdullahi urged them to return to their various communities so as to transfer the knowledge to others.
He affirmed NITDA’s continual inclusion of PLWD in all its initiatives adding that attaining a digitally inclusive society requires collaborative efforts from all stakeholders.
“No matter how disabled anyone is, they should not feel sorry for themselves. The disabled are not special, just a little different,” said the NITDA’s boss while quoting Dr. Ashi Mary Magdalene of the Department of the Special Education University of Calabar to encourage the PLWDs to be more industrious.
The lead, Technical and Operations, Rivers State ICT Department, Mr. Austin Dimkpa who represented the state government at the closing ceremony remarked that the empowerment program provides an opportunity for the beneficiaries to join the league of the financially stable people in the world adding that the 10 richest people in the world are in the IT sector.
