The Federal of Nigeria has signed an agreement with tech giants, Huawei and CISCO to establish 300 academies in Nigeria and to train a minimum of 30,000 citizens in advanced ICT.
The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Pantami, said the partnership is part of the government’s efforts to achieve 95% digital literacy in the country by 2030.
While delivering a keynote address at the CISCO SAFARI International Conference 2022 organised by National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) in collaboration with CISCO in Abuja, Pantami said, “Of recent, we have had an agreement with Huawei and CISCO to establish a minimum of 300 academies in Nigeria and to train a minimum of 30,000 citizens on advanced training. In addition to this, we have another agreement with Microsoft in which 5 million citizens are going to be trained on ICT, particularly in the area of Artificial Intelligence”.
Speaking to the theme of the conference: ‘Digital Skills in the 4th Industrial Revolution, the Impact on National Development,’ Pantami said digital skills and the 4th Industrial Revolution have been highlighted in the country’s National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy as key pillars in diversifying the economy.
“If you look at our National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy for a digital Nigeria 2020- 2030 which was unveiled by His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari GCFR, on the 28th of November 2019, you will discover that these two components of the theme have been effectively mentioned and captured in the policy under pillars number 2 and 7. Pillar number 2 is digital skills and literacy while pillar number 7 is digital society and emerging technologies”, he noted.
Stressing that the world is already in the 4th Industrial Revolution, Pantami said emerging technologies such as the Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, and Blockchain Technology among many others have replaced the existing emergence of computers, worldwide webs aid, and the internet which was experienced in the 3rd Industrial Revolution.