President of the Digital Bridge Institute (DBI), Prof. Mohammed Ajiya, has stressed the need for government to leverage on e-governance platform to meet the challenges of employment generation for the teeming youths.
Speaking with journalists in Abuja, Ajiya decried that states and local government areas are yet to key fully into the digital agenda of the present administration, due to low awareness on the importance of modern technology and the need for its adoption by young entrepreneurs at the local levels.
He noted that the federal government is investing heavily in broadband expansion and provision of telecommunications infrastructures for the transformation of the nation’s economy. He observed that the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), through the DBI has trained over 60,000 Nigerian administrators, students, and academics in various digital and ICT-related programmes since 2004.
According to him, more DBI campuses would soon resume operations in Yola, Enugu, and Asaba, to boost the operations of the ones in Abuja, Lagos, and Kano.He said DBI in partnership with Microsoft, Huawei Technology, and Global System of Mobile phones Association (GSMA), has certification from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), and accreditation by the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), to run courses and programmes on digital and ICT-related fields to up scale the skills of Nigerians.
According to Ajiya, DBI operations will be entrenched in the six geo-political zones, to enable it carry out its mandate of bridging digital and information technology gaps in the country, and drive the digital economic agenda of the present administration.
He also appealed to the media to assist in raising awareness about the opportunities available on the adoption of modern technology and deployment of ICT tools in positive ways for Nigeria’s socio-economic transformation.
Source: Guardian