As stated in the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (2020– 2030), Professor Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, Minister of Communications and Digital Economy stated at the weekend's event in Gombe that Nigeria's progress toward achieving 95% digital literacy in 2030 now appears more promising than ever.
"The reason we train citizens is that digital skills are no longer considered a luxury, but necessities required in any business you do," said Professor Pantami, who presided over the graduation of participants at a two-week Digital Job Creation Training for the North-East in Gombe, which was facilitated by the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC. He declared, "You need to have digital abilities if you want to succeed.
According to the Minister, “ICT is not just an independent sector but the key enabler of all other sectors today. It enables opportunities in education, in health, in agriculture, in security, in defence, in manufacturing, in trade, in investment and in the industry”, he stressed.
He, therefore, urged the participants to adopt innovation-driven enterprises and to utilize the training they have received to improve their economic status and make Nigeria a better place.
“We have to utilize ICT to make our country a better place. We must use ICT even for our personal economic benefits among others. Therefore, we want to encourage you not to waste your times online but rather to use the knowledge you have acquired to make Nigeria a better place and at the same time, derive many economic benefits from it,” he said.
The Minister highlighted that recent reports of the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, about the performance of each sector of the economy, which indicated an unprecedented ICT’s contribution of 18.44% to the economy, as very heart-warming about the prospects of the industry meeting with the expectations of the relevant policies.