The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), has urged Nigerian youths to acquire necessary digital skills in order to the government in the development of the nation.
The Director-General, NITDA, Mallam Kashifu Abdullahi, gave the advice during an online interactive session with Nigerian youths on the topic, ‘Education, Employment & Technology in Nigeria, Gaps & Opportunities Post COVID-19 Pandemic’, which was organised by Global Shapers Community
The NITDA DG explained that acquiring these digital skills would help youth to be self-reliant post-COVID-19 era, adding that they have to remain committed to their talents.
“Nigerian youths should stay committed and focused on their endeavours because time to hold-on to only educational qualifications without prerequisite skills is gone, especially now that the world has changed in different dimensions.
“The outbreak of the novel Coronavirus has been a monumental disaster globally, Nigeria inclusive.
“It has led to unprecedented disruptions to global economy, sharp drop in global crude oil prices, Nigeria economic mainstay and financial markets are struggling; massive loss of employment to the teaming youth, lockdown of schools and institutes of higher learning, among others.
“As of March 28, 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic is causing more than 1.6 billion children and youth to be out of school in 161 countries. This is close to 80 per cent of the world’s enrolled students,” he said.
Speaking on the rate of unemployment in the country before the pandemic, Abdullahi said “Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the unemployment rate was 23.1% in 2019 according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), though some predicted it could reach 33% by 2020.
“Youth unemployment and underemployment is 55.4%. With the onset of the pandemic, these statistics cannot be better,” he added.
He explained that as a result of the closure of schools due to COVID-19, NITDA under the supervision of the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy commenced a virtual academy for those at home to learn new skills.
“There will likely be a post-COVID-19 boom and areas to watch out for include ICT for mass literacy, Healthcare, Agriculture, Women Empowerment, Security and Surveillance. There will be opportunities for content production, animation design for learning, drones for medical supply deliveries, robotics in medical surgeries and telemedicine and sensors for proximity monitoring,” he said.
Abdullahi submits that in order for Nigeria to defeat this pandemic and be victorious in the end, there is need to improve our technology innovation by leveraging on digital skills rather than paper qualifications only.
“All these can only be achieved if Nigerian youths leverage on digital skills rather than paper qualifications only.”
“To succeed, we need to improve our technology innovation to defeat the pandemic and turn it to a blessing in disguise. Whether we like it or not, there is certainly a new normal in post-COVID-19 pandemic where digital technologies are playing a major role,” he added.