The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has reiterated its commitment to driving Nigerian youths to take advantage of the opportunities in the digital space through job creation.
In a statement he signed personally on Sunday, the Executive Vice Chairman, Prof. Garba Danbatta, expressed NCC’s full commitment “to the effective and efficient implementation of the Federal Government’s policy direction in repositioning the youth for the digital era job opportunities through a programme tagged: Digital Job Creation for Youths (DJCY).”
He explained that this is “In line with one of the pillars of the National Digital Economic Policy and Strategy, (NDEPS 2020-2030), which is to further accelerate economic growth in digital literacy and skills.”
The statement reads further: “Over 2,000 Nigerian youths have, so far, benefited from this programme from the six geopolitical zones of the country, while the ongoing edition has 600 youths being trained.
“The DJCY programme is designed to enhance the skills of youths across all the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria through customised training and offer of fully-loaded laptop computers with networking devices, to equip them for the purposes of engaging in different digital entrepreneurship businesses that they may choose.
“The beneficiaries are provided with free accommodation facilities for two weeks, during which resource persons in digital skills, business development and management, are engaged to retool them with their laptops to re-orientate them towards self-discovery, self-development, and self-employment.”
The DJCY programme is designed to enhance the skills of youths across all the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria through customised training and offer of fully-loaded laptop computers with networking devices, to equip them for the purposes of engaging in different digital entrepreneurship businesses that they may choose.
“Some of the objectives of the DJCY include to remould youths with other skills with Information and Communication Technology (ICT) proficiency to fit into the digital economy as well as strengthen technical and scientific competences among the youths with a view to creating opportunities for self-employment.
“It is also designed to improve access to ICT-enabled services such as banking, and strengthen the ICT micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector of the economy.
“The DJCY relies on the provisions of NDEPS 2020-2030, which encourage the promotion of Digital Literacy and Skills through massive training of Nigerians from all walks of life in order to enable them to obtain digital literacy and other digital skills.”
Danbatta also noted that hundreds of the participants in the previous two editions have reported gainful self-employment, using the laptops and Internet connectivity tools provided by the Commission, a development that has received the commendation of the Federal Government through the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy.
