By correspondent.
An expert in technology and digital skills,.Akindayo Akindolani,has lined out ways the federal government can make youths in the country a force in the digital market.
In a chat with ThisDay and Vanguard, Founder/CEO of McAnderson Institute of Technology, Akindolani, lamented that young people don’t have access to affordable infrastructures like computers that can help them sail in the digital market.
He called on the federal government and other stakeholders to collaborate in ensuring that youths have easy access to quality Internet as well as affordable computers to enable them compete globally in the digital space.
Speaking, Akindolani said, “Most Ed-tech organizations focus more on digital skills in Nigeria and by extension in Africa but we have failed to address the Basic infrastructures that could help the young people in Africa to scale faster. One of the things the government should help young people with is acquiring the right digital tool kits like affordable laptop/computers to work with and Internet penetration.
“How can we make computers accessible to young people especially recent graduates. Most International Organizations focus more on digital skills also, example is Google, Microsoft and CISCO. I remember reading a news in 2017 that Google invested 3 million dollars in Nigeria when the CEO visited the country sighting that one million people have been trained in Africa in Digital skills while they pushed to train 10 million Africans over five years on digital skills and yet there is a report which says that over 85% recent graduates lack digital skills.
“When you look at it critically you realise that some of our young people still do not have the required knowledge and skills to compete with in the labour market. One of the challenges we realised over the years of our work, is that we need government to make necessary investment into infrastructure.
“When you do a quick look into the NYSC camp for instance, some of them do not have good computers to work with because, the exchange rate is killing and some of them even managed to finish university with the hope of getting good Jobs. It will be difficult for them to acquire a laptop of 250,000. The government and other agencies need to look at how can they empower these young people with the infrastructure and tools needed to work with in the industry.
“We have local computer manufacturers, how are we investing in them to make sure that young Nigerians have access to quality and affordable computers to work with. Because without these things all the digital skills training that we are doing will not last, these guys will learn it, know it and after a while they forget everything and go back to whatever they were doing.
“To top it up, in non-urban areas, 19.4% have good access to the Internet compared to the 47.1% of Nigerians in urban areas. When you check these things you realise that this is a big problem, how do you want people to compete globally, how do you expect them to work remotely when they are struggling with the Internet?
“These are the things we need to do, we have to ensure that we provide adequate infrastructures for our people to work with. Once these things are in place, all the digital skill trainings can be built upon it and that’s one thing I think the government should look into. Because all the digital skill trainings without quality Internet and infrastructures like computers, will defeat the aims of empowering Nigerians to be equipped and compete for the International Jobs.”
He lauded the Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, for getting young people skilled in these aspects.
Akindolani said, “thanks to the Minister of Communication who is doing a great work in terms of getting people skilled but we need not forget that we need to put more effort in acquiring tool kits; Computers, access to quality Internet is still a problem for us.”
