Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa state and the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) have affirmed the importance of digital literacy in accelerating economic and technological growth in Nigeria.
The governor and NITDA Director General, Mr Kashifu Abdullahi made this known at the inauguration ceremony of the Digital Literacy For All (DL4ALL) Initiative held at the Nasarawa State University Keffi (NSUK) in Keffi local government area of the state on Friday.
Our reporter gathers that the DL4ALL Initiative is a program or course designed for students of Nigerian tertiary institutions and workforce that is strategically anchored on the National Digital Literacy Framework launched in July 2023.
Sule represented by Mr Samuel Kafu, Nasarawa state Commissioner for Science and Technology expressed gratitude to NITDA for picking Nasarawa state as the first of the higher institutions to kickstart the digital literacy program.
He said the move to entrench digital literacy among students of the university and across the country so as to meet up with global technological advancements would go a long way to accelerate economic and technological growth in the country.
“With the way the world is going we need Information and Communication Technology in all our daily activities and that is why NITDA is introducing this innovative initiative.
“We need this because everything is digitalized now. We really need it now because if we don’t key in now we will have no time to key in,” he said.
He said digital literacy will spur technological advancements especially among Nigerian youths which in turn will lead to accelerated economic growth hence the support of his administration for the initiative.
Also speaking, Abdullahi, DG NITDA said the administration of President Bola Tinubu is intentional when it comes to digital transformation and diversifying the economy through technological innovations hence the need to achieve 95 percent of digital literacy by 2030.
“The president is loud and clear when it comes to reforming the economy for sustained and inclusive growth which can only be achieved through digital literacy skills and talent.
“In a world we live today digital is a lifestyle. Therefore digital literacy is no longer optional but a necessity because you need it to be included in everything we do today.
“That is why we developed the National Digital Literacy Framework with an ambitious target to achieve 95 percent of digital literacy by 2030 but the president set a mid term target for us to achieve 70 percent by 2027,” he said.
He said NITDA’s partnership with the university is aimed at ensuring that the students can graduate to be digital literate with good digital fluency.
“You can see that if you have digital skills, you don’t need to look for jobs. All you need to do is to have the skills and try to stand out. When you get noticed, try and be different and creative so the sky be your stating point.
“So I believe in what we are launching today and we are going to open a new chapter in Nigeria where we can embed digital skills into our formal education.
“We believe that if we embed digital literacy into formal education, by 2027 we will train more than 15 million students in the Nigerian formal education sector,” he said.
In her opening remarks, Prof Sa’adatu Liman, Vice Chancellor of NSUK said the partnership between the university and NITDA with regards to the launching of the digital literacy program into the university curriculum.
“This partnership represents step towards equipping our students with the essential digital skills and knowledge needed to thrive in the 21st global landscape,” she said.
She added that the program is not just aimed at empowering students with digital skills but also positioning NSUK as a regional leader in the field of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), cyberspace, artificial intelligence and robotics.
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