…..challenges Africa to prioritise digital skills, flexible regulation
The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Pantami has called for the inclusion of digital skills in the school curriculum of African undergraduate students.
He said the inclusion of digital skills training became necessary because degrees were no longer enough to equip the youths for the task ahead of them in the labour market.
The minister made the call on Tuesday at the first West Africa Digital Economy Conference themed: Positioning West Africa Digital Economy for the Future organised by the ministry in Abuja.
He said countries that prioritised the 4th Industrial Revolution like the US, Japan Germany, China and India, which are the largest economies in the world have grown their economies through the adoption of the digital economy and for Africa to compete globally, the continent must brace up with the challenge of adopting digital skills in the training of youth people to prepare them for new tasks at the workplace.
‘‘There is a serious mismatch between the quality of certificates from our institutions and output at the workplace. The focus is not on the certificate but on the ability to do the job. It is not about employment, the most serious challenge is the unemployability of the youth because of that mismatch when those employed cannot do the job.
‘’If you look at it today in the world, we need a minimum of 8.1m world-class cyber security experts, not everybody is needed. What we have today is only 4.7m, so by implication, we have another 3.4 vacancies.
‘’Degrees are not enough to equip the youth; they must be supported with digital skills to be able to compete globally. Because of this mismatch, we came up with the initiative of building a Digital and Innovation Centre in all states of the federation to complement the degrees.
‘‘In this 4th Industrial revolution, degrees are not only needed but skills to complement them. Degrees must be supported with relevant skills, either soft skills or hard skills. It is only innovation that is the way to go. In addition to that about, 15 digital innovation centres have been built across the states. For this, the government is building World class digital and innovation centre in FCT in addition to National Centre for Robotics and Artificial Intelligence’’.
He called on African countries to prioritise flexible regulation that would attract investors and empower youth and women with digital skills that would make them job creators rather than job seekers.
The minister also challenged African leaders to collaborate in the area of skill development. If this is done, he said citizens will not complain of unemployment.
‘‘African countries have a series of regulations. My focus is to make them realise that regulation should be about flexibility, they must learn to amend their laws within 24 hours when the need arises they must try to change the perception of restricting investors but rather support development. Also, prioritise long term benefits rather than short-term benefits.
‘‘Again Africa must collaborate in the area of skill development. If this is done, citizens will not complain about unemployment. Certification should validate skills, if they don’t they have lost their essence. The focus should no longer be on certificates but prioritise skills, and that skills should not be intermediaries but long-lasting skills that will enable them to create jobs.
‘‘I encourage African countries to come up with laws that will support young innovators to be job providers rather than job seekers. This is how I feel Africa can come together to identify our talents, identify our young innovators, and give them the support they need to make us proud.
‘‘Let us prioritise manufacturing what we consume and not what we import. No developed nation in the world relied on what others produced but it produced’’
‘’‘Our population is very important but we must take advantage and the age advantage by being very proactive in adopting emerging technologies. Today, Africa has over 430 million unemployed youths, some underemployable and others unemployable. From this population, only one-third of that population is underemployed, and by implication, only 140 million of that number is underemployed and the remaining are unemployable.
‘‘Unemployment is a time bomb in Africa. We must leverage our population and age advantage to achieve the much-desired growth and development.’’
In effort in empowering youth/women, he said, ‘’we have many programmes to support women ICT. From committees, boards and managerial positions, women are well represented. Over 600 citizens so far have been trained in digital skills. Our target is to train 1m, software developers.’’
Speaking on his performance on broadband/internet penetration, the minister said, ‘‘before taking over as minister in 2019, the annual broadband penetration was less than 2 to 3 % but from 2019 to 2020 it was increased broadband penetration by more than 8% in one year.
Other initiatives taken to ensure broadband penetration increased was to address the issue of Right of Way, we engaged state governors who cooperated with us and reduced the cost to laying Optic Fibre to N145 per linear metre and some free. This action led to a reduction in the cost of production in the sector.
‘‘Another major challenge was the vandalization of telecom infrastructure. Within one year, 113 cases were reported in one year, after looking into it the cases have been brought down by 80%, after engaging the minister of works and housing.’’
‘‘Today, we provide satellite Broadband services, the first in Africa. This provides services in any part of Nigeria to complement efforts of Network Service Providers, who provide Fibre optics.
‘‘The whole country is now covered with broadband services, either through Fibre optics or satellite broadband, there is no part of Nigeria that is not covered with broadband penetration’’.
Another initiative by the administration, according to him, is building 33 ICT Backbone infrastructures. The Federal government is providing optic Fibre into each state of the federation and as of today, 33 have been completed and by March this year, the 36 states and FCT will be covered.
On data Protection, Pantami said, ‘’Data protection is not optional but our fundamental rights. Government must ensure the protection of the data of citizens unless a crime is committed, and security agencies are empowered to go into private data as long as prima-fase’ is established.
The new Data Protection Bill will give incentive to investors and will help create awareness among citizens on how to secure their data’’.
