In line with the ongoing quest for Africa to properly transition into the digital-data economy, the Federal government of Nigeria has flagged off the Digital Economy Employability Program (DEEP) targeted at empowering the Nigerian youths through the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) in partnership with the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).
NITDA whose strategic goal is to encourage the growth of digital skills, digital innovation, entrepreneurship and promotion of indigenous content in Nigeria will be facilitating the empowerment programme which will run concurrently in seven NYSC camps nationwide.
Mr Kashifu Inuwa, the Director General of NITDA, while declaring the programme open at the NYSC camp in Kubwa, Abuja on Saturday, December 10, has said the programme centred on improving the digital foot print of Nigeria by providing Nigerians with modern and relevant digital literacy and skills that would expose, prepare and connect them to in-demand career opportunities that are available in the global digital economy.
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The DG declared the programme is expected to help create the opportunity for Nigerians to create job opportunities within the digital economy space which would ultimately help increase the contribution of ICT to the country’s GDP which currently stands at 18.44 percent, the Vanguard reported. Also mentioned by the DG is the multiplier effect the programme will have.
According to the Blueprint, the DG added that the initiative was part of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) 2020-2030 and expanded the mandate of the then ministry of Communications to Include Digital economy, under the leadership of Prof. Isa Ali Pantanmi which geared toward empowering young Nigerians with digital skills in order to be part of the fourth industrial revolution. Mr Kashifu made the following remarks:
‘’The implication of this projection is that many Nigerians, both in the IT and non IT space must acquire digital literacy and skills in order to thrive in this current fourth industrial revolution.
‘’Given our huge population of about 218 million and which about 50 percent is constituted by youth, we have enough potential human capital to drive the data economy, and that is why we have decided to flag off this programme in seven NYSC strategic camps.
‘’We believe that the NYSC camps holds the brightest and the most intelligent Nigerian youths. We believe that corps members will not only benefit from this programme but will create a multiplier effect by transferring the knowledge and skills during the course of this programme to other Nigerians and this will help the country realize its target of 95 percent digital literate Nigerians by 2030. There is no better time to embrace digital transformations than now.
‘’The world is moving away from natural resource-based economy to a digital and knowledge-base economy, more attention and efforts are being put into human capital and digital technologies and Nigeria should not be left out of this fast-moving train.’’
