FG Will Ensure Digital Skills For All Nigerians – Pantami

The Federal Government said to thrive in the connected economy and society, it is determined to ensure that digital skills are provided to all Nigerians especially the youth in schools through the Digital Nigeria Centre (DNC).

The minister of communication and digital economy, Prof Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami said the digital skills will function together with other abilities such as strong literacy and numeracy skills, critical and innovative thinking, complex problem solving, an ability to collaborate, and socio-emotional skills.

Disclosing this in his remarks recently during the commissioning of the Digital Nigeria Centre built by the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF) at Ijesha Moslem Grammar School, Irjo, Ilesha, Osun state, the minister said this will ensure the development of digital economy culture in the country.

The USPF under whose auspices the project was implemented, was established by the federal government through the Nigerian Communications Act (NCA), 2003, to facilitate the achievement of national policy goals for Universal Access and Universal Service to ICTs in the rural, unserved and underserved areas in Nigeria.

The DNC, hitherto known as School Knowledge Centre (SNC), targets students and youths for skills acquisition in order to increase Information and Communication Technology (ICT) literacy among school teachers and students; provide a platform for accessing online educational resources; equip students with ICT skills; facilitate ICT adoption in teaching and learning; and increase pass rate in mathematics, English language and other science subjects.

The four components of the DNC include ICT Tool component (made up of 40 desktop computers with embedded operating systems, server, printer, remote-controlled projector, high-resolution scanner, and e-learning software). Another component is the Power structure, consisting of an inverter that comes with its charger, solar panels, batteries and automatic changeover.

There is also a Connectivity component, made up of routers, switches, firewall for network protection, modem, fibre/microwave radio or VSAT and bandwidth for internet connectivity. Finally, there is a non-ICT component constitutive of the furniture, cabinet, cooling systems, and allied appliances.