BY GLORIA USMAN, ABUJA – The Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof Umar Garba Danbatta, has charged the participants of the Digital Literacy Training to put the skills acquired as well as the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools received during the exercise to appropriate and legitimate use.
Addressing participants for the North-West held at the Kano Campus of the Digital Bridge Institute (DBI), over the weekend, Danbatta enjoined the youths who had the privilege of participating in the training to apply the skills acquired in gainful activities in order for them to be self-employed.
A statement by the Director, Public Affairs of the NCC, Dr Ikechukwu Adinde, states that the training provided the participants useful skills to earn a living without necessarily relying on government to give them jobs.
Adinde quoted the NCC Executive Vice Chairman as saying; “It is our hope at NCC that you will apply the skills appropriately and impact on your friends and associates. I also urge you to resist the temptations to sell the laptops and other IT tools you are going to be provided with”.
Danbatta commended President Muhamamdu Buhari, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami and the Governing Board of the Commission for the implementation of the digital capacity-building initiative, describing the scheme as an important intervention approved by the Federal Government to make more Nigerian youths self-reliant.
He said; “We, therefore, express our profound appreciation to the President and to our Ministry for making this particular training, which is a practical demonstration of one of the important pillars of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) 2020-2030, possible”.
Danbatta said the Federal Government’s policy in this direction is aimed at lifting Nigerians, particularly the youths, out of poverty, stressing that to achieve this, there was a need to impact skills to the youths who will, in turn, use the skills for self-employment.
According to him; “It is consistent with this important policy of President Muhammadu Buhari that the Board of the NCC, two years ago, set up a committee of experts chaired by the former EVC of the Commission, Engr. Ernest Ndukwe, to develop modalities and syllabus for the digital training of youths across the six geo-political zones of the country”.
He also said that the implementation of the recommendations of the committee of experts, as approved by the government, gave rise to the training, which targets 1,000 Nigerian youths to be digitally trained for self-employment.
Earlier, the President of DBI, Prof. Muhammad Ajiya, said the various modules of the digital, moral and leadership skills given to the youths during the course of the training will go a long way in making the beneficiaries earn a living and be self-reliant.
Participants expressed appreciation to the Commission for the digital skills acquisition and empowerment programme.
The training, a brainchild of the Commission, is aimed at implementing the Federal Government’s policy to lift Nigerians out of poverty, held for two weeks across each of the six geo-political zones of the country.
Across the zones, the youth were not only trained by subject-matter experts in ICT but were also empowered with working tools which include: laptops, Internet Mi-Fi, financial support and certificates certifying the digital skills they have been equipped with.
