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The Director General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Mr Kashifu Inuwa Abdullah, has tasked the country’s education drivers to adopt digital technological skills in order to prepare students for the digital economy.
Abdullah spoke at the just ended EdTech Summit and Awards in Abuja. The two days event was organised the Federal Ministry of Education in collaboration with AFRITEX and drew participants from the academia, public and private sectors.
The NITDA was honoured with a ‘National Award’ at the EdTech Summit 2020 for developing the Unity Board, an indigenous education technology platform for STEAM Education.
The Unity Board was jointly designed and developed by the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, and NITDA’s Director of Corporate Planning and Strategy, Dr Agu Collins Agu.
“There are applications that close the gap between what is learnt and what ought to be learnt. Digital technology is changing the way we learn. The pillars of educational sector which are content, delivery and teaching have now been disrupted,” said the NITDA boss while stressing that digital technology is changing the many ways we do things, also noting that the disruptive tendencies of digital technology is not only affecting the way we live but also the way we learn or acquired education.
“It is time for you to reap from the potential and benefits of digital technology by acquiring digital skills which are more rewarding than educational certificates, “he added.
Part of the objectives of the event was to bring critical stakeholders together in order to share and harmonise ideas towards developing a National Educational Technology Plan for the country.
Sharing his personal experience with the participants who were majorly students, Abdullahi stated that immediately he got his CCIE certification, he got five different job offers which he could not think of getting with his academic qualification adding that in less than a year he got his job and he recouped his investment on the certification.
“I will urge our students to embrace digital technology and acquire digital skills because it is the future of work. For most of you, your work does not exist now. They are future work which would be driven by digital skills. We have a millennial population which our investors need to leverage on and invest in digital technology. This is a competitive advantage if we want to make a country a force to reckon with in digital technology and skills”.
While explaining some of NITDA’s interventions projects especially in support of growth of the nation’s educational sector, Abdullahi said that the agency has donated e-learning facilities to many tertiary institutions in the country. “We, like you all in the education sector, believe that education is one of the most powerful instruments for reducing poverty, exclusion and lays a foundation for sustainable development with the help of ICT.
His words: “Capacity building and digital inclusion are very important focus areas for us at NITDA. We have increased IT Access at different communities through the provision of our digital Centres and e-learning facilities, IT Community Centres and provided computing facilities for teachers in the country. These facilities can be used to apply the new ways of teaching and learning as EdTech becomes more popular.
