The Federal Government says it is embracing digital revolutions for job creation, better governance and the empowerment of youth in the country.
fr. Umar Danbatta, Executive Vice President of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), made this statement while delivering the 10th and 11th Fountain University Combined Convocation Lecture on Thursday in Osogbo.
The Nigerian News Agency (NAN) reports that the conference is themed: “Empowering Nigerian Youth through Information and Communications Technology (ICT)”.
According to Danbatta, ICTs are now synonymous with empowerment, as they effectively transform processes and play a facilitating role in the various sectors of the economy for national development.
He said: “The ICT revolution has created opportunities for young people in the labor market globally.
”The 2019 World Economic Forum stated that at least 133 million new roles may emerge globally by 2022 as a result of the new division of labor between humans, machines and algorithms.
“In fact, the impact of ICTs on socio-economic development and transformation has been so monumental that it is credited with starting the fourth industrial revolution.
”As a measure to consolidate the achievements of the ICT revolutions in Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari launched the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy 2020-2030 and the National Broadband Plan 2020-2025 to further strengthen the use and ICT adoption in the country. ”
Danbatta also said that the ICT sector has been consistently contributing above 10 percent to Nigeria’s GDP for over 10 years, adding that as of the fourth quarter of 2020, the telecom sector alone contributed 12.45 percent of GDP.
According to him, Nigeria is Africa’s largest ICT market with 82 percent of the continent’s telecom subscribers and 29 percent of Internet usage.
He said that the NCC had launched several ICT youth empowerment initiatives to create a digitally-skilled workforce that would fit into the country’s digital economy blueprint.
He added that the commission also committed to fostering partnership with tech hubs and startups to accelerate innovations and the creation of a digitally-skilled workforce for industrial growth and sustainable development.
In his remarks, the Vice-Chancellor of the University, Prof. Amidu Sanni, said that the choice of the theme of the conference was not accidental, but deliberate.
Sanni said that the institution was engaging its students in innovations, skills development and artificial intelligence through ICT.