NITDA launches digital literacy framework, to create 1m jobs in Nigeria

*Kashifu Inuwa, CCIE, Director-General of Nigeria’s National Information Technology Development Agency, urges Nigerians to position themselves to become the global talent factory in view of the country’s competitive advantage of youthful population, English-speaking people, and geographic location among others

Gbenga Kayode | ConsumerConnect

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has officially launched the National Digital Literacy Framework (NDLF) for achieving a digitally literate citizenry in Nigeria.

ConsumerConnect reports the development is in consonance with the agency’s bid to attain 95 percent digital literacy by 2030 while actualising the vision of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to create over a million jobs for youths in the digital economy sector in the West African country.

Objectives of digital literacy framework, by Inuwa

The country’s IT regulatory agency noted the new framework is aimed at providing a clear and consistent definition of digital literacy.

NITDA also stated document is designed to develop a national curriculum for digital literacy capacity building training to ensure that everyone, regardless of their background or location, has the opportunity to learn the digital skills they need to succeed in the 21st Century economy.

Kashifu Inuwa, CCIE, Director-General of NITDA, in his remarks at the unveiling of the digital literacy at the Digital Economy Complex, Mbora, in Abuja, FCT, said the framework would set the stage for the review of curriculum from the kindergarten to universities in Nigeria.

Inuwa disclosed under the objectives of the  framework, there is Universal Access, which means every Nigerian should have access to digital literacy, which will help to develop youths’  skills in the West African country.

The Director-General of the agency further stated another objective of the framework is Skill Development.

According to him, the document will help in building digital offerings locally.

Inuwa said: “Thirdly, Inclusive Participation means everybody should be carried along to achieve this.

“We are developing digital gender inclusion as well, to ensure that the Nigerian women are not being left behind, and we also have the workforce readiness.”

He as well stressed the need for Nigeria to strategically position itself to fill 85 million talent deficits gaps with 8.5T USD unrealised annual value, which Korn Ferry projected that the world would experience by the year 2030.

“By the year 2030, the way we work will completely change,” stated the Director-General.

He said McKinsey’s research that indicated automation would displace about 480 million jobs, while Microsoft’s projected that by 2025, there is going to be more than 190 million new Information Technology jobs worldwide.

Inuwa also said: “If we position ourselves, we can capture this value and become the global talent factory.

“We have a more competitive advantage over India in terms of our young population, English-speaking people, our geographic location, and many more.”

The highlight of the event was the official signing of the NDLF by Dr. William Alo, OON, Special Guest of Honour and Permanent Secretary Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, and NITDA Chief.

Development of digital literacy/talent strategy for stakeholders 

In regard to the strategic importance of digital literacy, Inuwa explained: “To create jobs, you need to have the literacy and skills, you need the literacy for the consumers to consume the digital services, and you need skills for the developers to build the digital services.

“So, this framework is setting the tone and is setting the direction.”

The NITDA Director-General asserted that more work would be done, as the agency has already done the IT Skills Gap Assessment, and is currently working on the digital talent strategy that will help in building the talent pipeline in the Nigerian economy.

This includes not only training the people, but connecting them with jobs, either local jobs or global in order to be part of the global value chain.

SMEDAN to include digital skills in training curriculum: Fasanya

In his goodwill message on the occasion, Mr. Olawale Tunde Fasanya, Director-General of Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), assured NITDA that his agency key in by including digital skills in its training curriculum to impact a lot of Nigerians.

Fasanya said the impact of digital skills on Nano, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises is enormous.

In attendance were Engr. Aliyu Aziz, Director-General/CEO National Identity Management Commission (NIMC); Dr. Vincent Olatunji, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC); and Representatives of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Ministry of Education, MTN Foundation, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), and Nigeria Computer Society (NCS), among several other stakeholders.

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