We Are Championing A Paradigm Shift That Emphasizes Skills – Pantami

The Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Ibrahim Pantami on Thursday reiterated government’s commitment to support and promote the development of digital skills among its citizens through partnerships and collaborations with relevant global institutions.

According to a press release on Thursday 20th January 2022 signed by the Spokesperson to the Honourable Minister, Uwa Suleiman, she said that Professor Pantami was speaking as the Special Guest of Honour during a virtual workshop organized by the World Bank on Digital Skills Roadmap. The Minister remarked that “we are championing a paradigm shift with emphasis on skills, particularly digital skills over merely having degrees without skills.

A Digital Economy cannot be developed in silos and that is why the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy has entered into mutually beneficial partnerships with global technology giants and institutions in order to empower our citizens, with the requisite skills to become employers, rather than employees in the long run”. The Minister also disclosed that over 500,000 Nigerians have so far benefitted from digital skills empowerment programmes at various levels, initiated and driven by the Ministry and the parastatals under its purview.

The collaboration between the two institutions will provide technical assistance to the Nigerian Government to advance its quest for digital skills as captured in the second pillar of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) document.

It will be recalled that the World Bank has been in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, in the development of Nigeria’s digital economy since President Muhammadu Buhari launched the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) document in November of 2019.