Pantami launches Digital Nigeria Portal and Mobile App

ABUJA, Nigeria – The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy,  Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami today launched theDigital Nigeria Portal and Mobile App as part of  implementation of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) for a Digital Nigeria.

The portal domiciled at https://www.digitalnigeria.gov.ng and the ‘Digital Nigeria’ Mobile App will enable Nigerians to  acquire high level digital skills from the comfort of their homes.

Speaking during the launch, Dr. Pantami explained thatsome of the objectives for launching the platforms  include  empowering innovators and entrepreneurs with skills required to thrive in Nigeria’s emerging digital economy;  to provide capacity building in a wide range of areas, including Digital Literacy, Productivity Tools, Web Development, Cloud Computing, Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Database Administration, Networking, Programming, Internet of Things and Soft Skills; to create a platform to support a paradigm shift from degrees to skills and bridge the gap between the academia and industry; to promote the development and distribution of instructional materials in electronic format; and to create an enabling environment for building the capacity of Innovation Driven Enterprises (IDEs) and Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) through e-learning channels.

Dr. Isa Ali Pantami explained that the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy emphasizes the importance of partnerships as a key requirement for  its successful development hence the partnership with  African Development Bank and the Microsoft on this very important initiative.

“The training content covers areas like Digital Skills, Productivity Tools, Web Development, Cloud Computing, Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Database Administration, Networking, Programming and Internet of Things.  There is also training on soft skills like entrepreneurship, research, marketing, business and how to create excellent resumes. As such, a wide spectrum of users, from beginners to advanced students, can find appropriate courses.

“We will regularly update the platform to include more courses from time to time.  It will enable us identify skilled Nigerians for additional capacity building opportunities and allow us to easily conduct surveys to identify courses of interest.  Students will receive certificates after completing the courses”, he assured.

The  Minister described the launch as  part of  the implementation of the Digital Literacy and Skills Pillar #2 and that it is a follow up to the Mr President’s flagging off of the Digital Nigeria Programme on the 19th of March 2020 to support Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training for Nigerians.

“The Digital Nigeria Programme will provide a National Platform for improving the digital literacy of Nigerians and it will enable Nigerians from all walks of life to acquire high level digital skills.  It will have a strong emphasis on Skills for Jobs and will include Nigerians in all strata of society, such as youth, women, children, internally displaced persons, people living with disabilities, etc”, Dr. Pantami  said.

He said that with the launch the ministry is championing a paradigm shift that lays emphasis on skills, in preference to merely having degrees without skills.

“Degrees are only meant to validate skills. This is a growing trend across the globe. For instance, China recently started the process of turning 600 of the country’s general universities into skill centres. Also, the President of the United States of America signed an Executive Order on the 26th of June 2020 directing the federal government to lay emphasis on skills rather than degrees when hiring staff”, he added, stressing that the curriculum vitae of today should have 2 main parts- soft skills and hard skills.

He noted that digital literacy and skills pillar recognises the fact that citizens are the greatest assets in any economy, including the digital economy, which he said will support the development of a large pool of digitally literate and digitally skilled citizens.

“We recently provided a platform to support the Digital Nigeria program, enabling Nigerians to receive training in diverse digital skills. As part of these efforts, I earlier launched another online academy executed by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA). Over 40,000 Nigerians have enrolled across both platforms since the 2nd of April, 2020”, the minister asserted. .

He explained that the journey towards developing Nigeria’s Digital Economy commenced when Mr President approved the request for  re-designation of the Federal Ministry of Communications as the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, along with an upgrade of the mandate, on the 17th of October 2019.   

“This was then adopted by the Federal Executive Council on the 23rd of October 2019 and the implementation of the revised mandate of the Ministry commenced on the 24th of October 2019”, he said, adding that the development of the National Digital Economy is anchored on 8 pillars as stated in NDEPS, which are Developmental Regulation; Digital Literacy & Skills; Solid Infrastructure; Service Infrastructure; Digital Services Development & Promotion; Soft Infrastructure; Digital Society & Emerging Technologies; and Indigenous Content Development & Adoption.