October 12, 2023

The Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr. ‘Bosun Tijani, says the Federal Government plans to set up hardware training centres in popular tech hubs like Aba in Abia State and Computer Village in Lagos State.

He said the goal is to advance manpower development and expand job opportunities for over 200 million Nigerians.

“We have a programme called digital literacy,” the minister said on Thursday during an exclusive live appearance on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme.

“The plan is that by 2030, 90% of Nigerians should be digitally literate.

Digital literacy doesn’t mean that you become a technical talent but it gives you the foundation to be able to choose that you also want to participate in the digital economy.”

Dr. Tijani said the Federal Government has plans to train three million Nigerians in technical skills in the next few years. He said his ministry is collaborating with state governments to accomplish the vision and make sure the initiative is well-supported.

Asked whether the government plans inclusion of indigenous language as language of instruction in tech trainings and software development in Nigeria, the minister said, “We also quite keen on how to ensure that Nigeria can become a leader and participate actively in the Artificial Intelligence (AI) development because this is where technology is now being biased, especially when your own language and reality is not taken into consideration.

“One of the things we are doing there is supporting projects and initiatives that can ensure that all languages in Nigeria are also included in the AI drive so that the machines can recognise all the languages and we are not talking about the popular ones which is Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo; we are talking about all the languages that people may not pay attention to as important languages.”