E-learning is the engine room of today’s digital economy transformation and has become imperative in modern education of any society.
This was disclosed by the Director-General/CEO of National Information Technology Development Agency, Mal. Kashifu Abdullahi Inuwa at the marking of the United Nations 2022 International Day of Education and Commissioning of the Kwara State E-Library and Ed-Tech Hub hosted by Kwara Digital Education Partners, Ilorin Kwara State.
The DG said that to speed up development in Nigeria, provide employment, curb insecurity and stands tall in the comity of nations, it is a duty to embrace e-learning as an opportunity for speedy, national progress.
Kashifu reiterated that the United Nations has shown over the years that, the development of every society lies in the provision of quality education.
The statement reads, “The Kwara State e-Library is another avenue to showcase the most important transformation every society stands to achieve by availing tools required to uplift and build that society which is attainable through modern day education enabled by technology.
“The right to education as enshrined in Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Declaration of Free and compulsory elementary education, and the need to make higher education accessible to all are indicators that education is a right to all citizens and not a privilege. Ensuring an efficient and effective education system delivery, therefore, requires an always-available digital technology which this e-library will provide.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has thought us that initiatives such as this, fostered on digital transformation, are key and a lack of preparation could indeed mean much harm. The pandemic illustrated what would have been argued as impossible some years ago, as we experienced a total shutdown of all types of physical learning that requires the gathering of pupils in classrooms.
“Please what has the pandemic led us to prioritize as our major educational goal if not e-Learning? You may agree with me that the e-library being commissioned today, and other proposed ones in the remaining local government areas of the state, will certainly boost the literacy rate of Kwara State students in domains such as information and communication technology (ICT), Science and Technology, and skill acquisition to mention a few. Also, the advantages of such developments will challenge students in areas of research. You can therefore see that the value chain is indeed vast.
“The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) is always glad and ready to identify with such laudable efforts. Your approach towards ensuring sustainable development in the Educational sector of Kwara State coupled with striving for a Digital Transformation in the state, is highly commendable because it identifies with three of NITDA’s Seven Strategic Pillars:
“Digital Literacy and Skills, which seeks to enable the development of digital skills of Nigerians across different works of life as well as support the goal of achieving a 95% digital literacy level in the next ten years;
“Digital Transformation, which seeks to provide a robust digital platform to drive digitalization processes in the Nigerian digital economy; and Digital Innovation & Entrepreneurship, which seeks to enable Micro, small, medium and innovation-driven enterprises to thrive. We expect that the outcome of this pillar will create opportunities for job creation.
“All these key into the present administration’s National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS), and shows we are all harnessing our resources towards securing the Future of Education by Closing the digital gaps as well captured in today’s theme.
“NITDA commends your initiative of partnering with the Kwara State government to build e-Libraries across the sixteen Local Government Areas of the State. This again buttresses the fact that we are all aligned towards the same national agenda.
“In recent years, NITDA has set up twenty-seven developmental projects made up of digital capacity building centres, digital capacity training centres, and digital economy centres in schools and local government areas of Kwara State.
“The interventions were all equipped with information technology facilities, internet provision, power back-up and e-learning facilities.
“In addition, we are currently in the process of setting up three digital economy training centres. Your effort, I must say, has challenged us in NITDA to especially increase the developmental initiatives in Kwara State as we can see evident commitment towards the sustainability of such projects.
“NITDA, as a regulatory and developmental Agency, believes strongly that innovations like this that accommodate the common man and woman into the global community of learning via digital technology are coming at the right time of economic transformation. Therefore, we stand a great chance of building a society of intellectuals where greater emphasis is on citizenship, and their effective readiness to compete on the same scale with their counterparts nationally and globally.
“As NITDA’s contribution to this unique initiative, I wish to assure you that NITDA will forge linkages, collaborations and partnerships towards the sustainability of this program for the good people of Kwara State.
The DG appealed for the judicious usage of the facility by the beneficiaries and encouraged them that the knowledge acquired should be used to improve and uplift the educational challenges of Kwara State and Nigeria at large for sustainable development.
“This is imperative because we have a duty to improve the standard of education of our people in order to move our developing economies to greater heights, Kashifu said.
