Federal Govt Engages Private Sector On Digital Skills

The federal government through the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has engaged multinationals and private organisations to develop and co-create the National Digital Skills Strategy (NDSS).

 This was In its continued effort to achieving 95 per cent digital literacy penetration by the year 2030

The NDSS is a policy document developed by NITDA under the directive of the minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami), to bridge the digital skills gap in the country and develop a clear road map for the diversification of the nation’s economy and sustainability of its digital economy.

The engagement, which was held virtually, had representatives from International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), APPLE, HUAWEI, META, ORACLE, GOOGLE, CISCO Software Inc and others.

While giving an insight into the genesis of the development of the NDSS, the NITDA director general, Kashifu Inuwa, disclosed that the agency, in collaboration with the Co-Creation Hub, undertook research to understand existing talent and skills which birthed the first draft of the NDSS.

Inuwa stated that the NDSS will help re-position the country in alignment with global standards and takes full advantage of the digital economy, while identifying Digital Literacy & Skills as a critical strategic pillar in the Agency’s Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan (SRAP) 2021-2024 towards the implementation of the present administration’s National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS).

“In line with the digital literacy and skills pillar of NDEPS for a Digital Nigeria, NITDA has set out a target of one million developers and skills by December 2023 and thus, rolled out several capacity building programmes that are targeted at people from different sectors of the economy’, he noted.

The NITDA DG added that, many of the capacity-building programmes were conducted in collaboration with professional ICT bodies, international corporations, and non-governmental organisations to provide stronger support for reskilling and upskilling for at-risk or displaced workers.

“As the apex Information Technology development and regulatory agency in the country, the collaboration of the agency with key multinational and private stakeholders in developing the NDSS will produce a robust strategy. The creation of the first draft by volunteer expert groups, talent gap assessment, and co-creation with government stakeholders are some of the achievements made so far,” he said.

Inuwa however, urged everyone, especially, stakeholders and other well-meaning Nigerians in the digital economy’s family to make inputs that would meet the unified mission and vision of the NDSS.