Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
In line with the federal government’s plan to tap into the potential of a digitally driven economy, four major ministries have come together to establish an inter-ministerial task team charged with maximising opportunities in today’s advanced world.
The ministries are Communication and Digital Economy; Labour and Employment; Youth and Sports; and Women Affairs. They were also joined by other relevant agencies under their respective departments.
In a meeting in Abuja, a three-man team led by Minister of Labour and Employment, Mr Chris Ngige; Mr Isa Pantami, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy; and Mr Sunday Dare, the Minister of Youths and Sports, Sunday Dare, received a high-level mission from the International Labour Organisation (ILO), and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
The ILO and ITU partners were in Nigeria to seek partnership for the creation of decent jobs and entrepreneurship through the global framework for Digital Skills facilitation for Youths in Africa.
Mr Ngige said the inter-ministerial team showed that ministries could work together to achieve the common set goals for better youth employment.
“You see the ministries of Sports, Digital Economy, Technology, and even parastatals within some ministries duplicating efforts on different and at times contrasting programmes on skills and empowerment.
“We are now harmonising everything so as to work in synergy to achieve the desired goal,” he stated.
He commended the Joint ILO-ITU partnership programme and critically addressed the need for the team to target the abundant digital literacy skills of some Nigerian youths and turn them into legally productive digital ventures in other to curb other fraudulent ventures.
Adding to this, the Communications Minister said Nigeria was ready to fully cross over to the digital economy by collaborating with the private sector to create jobs and lift 100 million Nigerians from poverty in 10 years.
On his part, Mr Dare commended the initiative but however raised observations on its sustainability, noting that there have opportunities in the past but young people after acquiring such skills returned to the job market, and therefore, called for stronger commitment to ensure youths are not only empowered but made investors.
Speaking, ILO Regional Director for Africa, Mrs Cynthia Olajuwon, who led the team said: “Africa’s growing youth population and the continent’s transition to digital economy represents a huge opportunity to bolster African economies while addressing important levels of unemployment and working poverty among young people.”
She said the programme, Boosting Decent Jobs and Enhancing Digital Skills For Youths in Africa’s Digital Economy, is a contribution to the 2020 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and part of the Call for Action adopted by the 2012 International Labour Conference.
The ITU African Regional Director, Mr Andrew Rugege, said Africa’s 335 million youth population can no longer wait to benefit from the over $300billion available in the digital economy.
Mr Rugege said Africa is ready to take up the challenge to get most of her young people key into and benefit from the enormous gains in the digital economy.
He assured of ITU’s support for the African digital economy through adequate radio resources backbone, adding that a standardisation bureau to ensure that the digital economy in Africa conforms to international standards will be established.
