By Etuka Sunday
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), has successfully conducted a nationwide digital literacy training as part of the Federal Government’s policy direction aimed at lifting Nigerians, particularly the youths, out of poverty.
Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, Prof Umar Danbatta, while Addressing the participants at the closing ceremony of the NCC’s Digital Literacy Training for the North-West held at the Kano Campus of the Digital Bridge Institute (DBI) on Friday, August 13, 2021, charged the Nigerian youth, who participated in the training conducted by the Commission, to put the skills acquired as well as the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools received during the exercise to appropriate and legitimate use.
Danbatta particularly enjoined the youths who have had the privilege of participating in the training to apply the skills acquired in gainful activities in order for them to be self-employed.
“The training has provided for you, useful skills, which you have acquired to earn a living for yourself without necessarily relying on government to give you a job. 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 told the participants.
Speaking further, the EVC commended President Muhamamdu Buhari, the supervising 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.
“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,” he pointed out.
The Director, Public Affairs, NCC, Dr Ikechukwu Adinde in a statement quoted the NCC boss, as saying that the Federal Government’s policy in this direction was 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.
“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 explained.
According to him, 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, who praised Prof. Danbatta for his untiring efforts to ensure the implementation of the Federal Government’s policy, 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 also expressed appreciation to the Commission for the digital skills acquisition and empowerment programme.
The training, a brainchild of the Commission, which was 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 given laptops, Internet Mi-Fi, financial support and certificates certifying the digital skills they have been equipped with.
Board members of the Commission participated at the closing and opening ceremonies of the training in their respective geo-political zones.
