Article summary
- The Nigerian Communications Commission said digital skills training will prepare Nigerian youths for digital job opportunities.
- The Commission said it is training Nigerian youths in this regard and line with the government’s National Digital Economic Policy and Strategy, (NDEPS 2020-2030).
- According to the Commission, over 2,000 youths have been trained already and more are still being trained.
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has said that Nigerian youths need digital skills training to be fit for the various digital job opportunities and to be able to create jobs for themselves. The Commission said this is why it has embarked on a program tagged, Digital Job Creation for Youths (DJCY).
The Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, Prof Umar Danbatta, who disclosed this in a statement released on Sunday, said the program is in line with one of the pillars of the National Digital Economic Policy and Strategy, (NDEPS 2020-2030), which is to further accelerate economic growth in digital literacy and skills.
While noting that Commission is fully committed to the effective and efficient implementation of the government’s policy direction in repositioning the youth for the digital era job opportunities, Danbatta said over 2,000 Nigerian youths have so far benefited from this program from the Six (6) Geopolitical Zones of the country while the ongoing edition has 600 youths being trained.
Objectives of the training
Speaking on the objectives of the digital jobs training, the EVC of the NCC said:
- “Some of the objectives of the DJCY include remolding youths with other skills with Information and Communication Technology (ICT) proficiency to fit into the digital economy as well as strengthen technical and scientific competencies among the youths to create opportunities for self-employment. It is also designed to improve access to ICT-enabled services such as banking and strengthen the ICT micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector of the economy.
- “The DJCY relies on the provisions of NDEPS 2020-2030, which encourage the promotion of Digital Literacy and Skills through “massive training of Nigerians from all walks of life to enable them to obtain digital literacy and other digital skills.” Hundreds of the participants in the previous two editions have reported gainful self-employment, using the laptops and Internet connectivity tools provided by the Commission.
- “It is gratifying to note that the Commission has, through the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Pantami, received the commendations of the Federal Government for the way and manner it had efficiently and effectively designed and implemented this programme for the benefit of the Nigerian youths.”
He added that the DJCY programme is designed to enhance the skills of youths across all 6 Geopolitical Zones of Nigeria through customised training and the offer of fully-loaded laptop computers with networking devices, to equip them to engage in different digital entrepreneurship businesses that they may choose.
The beneficiaries are provided with free accommodation facilities for two weeks, during which resource persons in digital skills, business development, and management, are engaged to retool them with their laptops to re-orientate them towards self-discovery, self-development, and self-employment.