NIGERIA: The Federal Government (FG) of Nigeria plans to launch a talent hunt as well as other creative events such as digital entrepreneurship in the country’s Internally Displaced Persons Camps (IDPs).
According to Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, Director-General of the National Technology Development Agency (NITDA), the idea behind the activities is to prepare and develop less privileged children to enable them to meet the 95 percent digital literacy plan by 2030, as well as to enable the children to see and be able to profound solutions to issues in their small ways.
Abdullahi stated this in Abuja at the launch of a development program for IDPs, refugees, and migrants on computer appreciation, digital marketing, and digital design.
“Nigeria has a plan to operate a paperless government by 2030; as such, every citizen must be carried along and equipped with the necessary skills to achieve the target without leaving anyone out,” Abdullahi said.
As a result, the government must do everything possible to educate and develop IT skills in all citizens, including those in device segments of life such as people with disabilities, because the world is becoming digital, and for any nation to succeed, it must invest in its technology for everyone.
However, Abdullahi stated that NITDA and the FG aimed to train 10,000 IDPs because they are clearly the most neglected group of citizens who need to reap the benefits of an inclusive government.
In another related development, the FG has reached an agreement to train 500,000 public servants in digital skills in order to improve productivity and service delivery in the workplace.
According to Dasuki Arabi, Director-General, Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR), the Federal Government (FG) is collaborating with the United States (US) government and other relevant sectors to achieve its goals.
Arabi went on to say that the FG has already made plans to transition to an e-government plan that will digitalize the entire government sector.
“All of the tools and materials required for the work’s completion, both hardware, and software, are already on the ground.”
“If the process is successful, the delivery of services will be faster, cheaper, and easier,” Arabi explained.
Arabi however hopes that by 2025, Nigeria civil servants will be among the top 20 in the whole world if the reform is achieved.
“For example, the accountants who always do their things through vouchers and cheques for paying salaries and contractors will now have the advantage of doing it digitally,” Arabi said.
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