Youth minister wants more youth trained  in digital skills 

Photo: Youth minister Sunday Dare presenting DEEL to his Egyptian counterpart

Minister of Youth and sports Development Mr Sunday Dare has reiterated  the  need to have more youth  trained in  digital skills in order to address the problem  of unemployment.

The Minister made this assertion at the  2021 Annual Luncheon of Government College, Ibadan, Old Boys Association (GCIOBA)  held in Ibadan on Sunday.

The Minister who spoke on Digital Literacy, a Panacea for Youth Unemployment,  emphasized  the need for improved  digital education especially among the youths.

According  to him,  “There have been focused efforts to close the digital skills  gap through a number of digital

capacity building initiatives. Some are ongoing as we speak . Also, ongoing

is the implementation of the Nigerian Youth Investment Fund. Mr President

listened to our arguments about the need to make our Youth develop   their Enterprenuership  spirit.  Despite the

competing needs for resources, the President approved the establishment of the first Youth

Investment Fund ever put  in  place in Nigeria: N 75 B released over three years.

N25B per annum for three years at 5%, moratorium, capacity building, no

guarantor. The first tranche has been disbursed to applicants across the country

and the second tranche is about to commence. This is what is called putting our

money where our Youths are.”

 He further stated ” It is worthy to note that the importance of Digital Literacy to employability is that

it a necessity to succeed in  modern economy. Having the basic digital literacy

skills can enhance the employability of individuals. Most jobs require digital

literacy. In Nigeria, with the high level of youth unemployment, a youth skilled

in basic and intermediate digital skills is more likely to access jobs locally and globally. Opportunities such as outsourcing, digital marketing, software

development, artificial Intelligence, data analysis, IT administration and many

others are job-creating opportunities”.

Speaking On the  DEEL initiative,  he  affirmed “The DEEL initiative is designed to unleash the potential of youth and to leverage on the youth bulge as a demographic dividend by providing

opportunities for investment in youth innovation and energies through a coordinated mechanism that will deliver cross cutting benefit”.

 He highlighted  the objectives of DEEL to  include; Deliver basic, mid-level and advanced digital skills training for 1 million youth annually;  facilitate at least 50,000, start-ups in the ICT sector

annually;  upskill youth with digital skills for leverage through digital

solutions in key sectors such as agriculture, power, health, manufacturing,

renewable energy and services. In addition, DEEL will enhance employability of

at least 50,000 youth annually from 2021-2023 through paid internships”.

He added  “The Ministry’s DEEL programme got Nigerian youth engaged through

Digital Skills, which included Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced training for

500,000 young people. It is also targeting mobile device training for 100,000

youth, aside from the Work Experience Programme (WEP) – internship

opportunities for three months for 5,000 youth. Digital Youth Nigeria (DY.ng)

exposes participants to standard training sessions on global digital roles like

Business Process Outsourcing skills, Software and Coding skills, Animation,

Graphics skills, Internet of Things (IoT), IT hardware skills. The essence is to

grow our abilities in digital services, in view of the increasing realities of remote

living, augmented reality and hypertext documents.”

He concluded by saying “It is important to note that increased investment in youth by

the Government, the private sector and development partners is the major path to

ensure that Nigeria is able to harness the advantage of technology to reposition

the economy. The opportunities abound, but we must keep the focus, just like the

Government College, Ibadan, Old Boys Association (GCIOBA), is doing. We

will not rest on our oars in providing quality leadership for not only the youth of

our dear nation, but for the entire citizenry in line with the vision of President

Mohammadu Buhari’s administration”.