TECHDIGEST – Not less than fourty artisans, students and business owners, mostly youths were trained on graphics design skills for entrepreneurship in a collaborative project by PRNigeria and Penlight Centre for New Media innovation.

The training which took place at PRNigeria ICT Centre in Kano was initiated in a bid to promote digital literacy skills and bridge the digital skills gap in Northern Nigeria

“This is just the beginning, having gotten interventions from NITDA through provision of gadgets and enabling infrastructures, we shall be holding trainings in various digital technology fields in our Abuja and Kano offices every month of the year,” Dahiru Lawal, the Project Manager, Penlight Centre said in a press statement.

“The one day bootcamp was very intensive and it empowered the participants with requisite skill on graphic design which will help them promote their individual businesses and enable them become employers of labour by creating jobs and being independent,” Says Adnan Mukhtar Adam, Manager PRNigeria Centre Kano during the programme.

The participants expressed delight on the training which they described that has been impactful, beneficial and timely.

Fauziyya Ahmed an entrepreneur and one of the beneficiaries of the training said that she learnt a lot of new things during the training.

“The acquisition of ICT knowledge has become imperative in the modern era,
You see this training will help me put my business in the digital space, and by learning this graphic design today I will also transfer the knowledge to my sisters at home.”

Another beneficiary, Mustapha Salisu a recent graduate in Bayero University Kano said that the training was interesting and educative.

“I’d always wanted to learn graphic design because in the near future I want to open a business center. So, when I saw the opportunity on social media, I quickly applied. This will help me alot. I wish to call on people not to take such opportunities for granted whenever they come across it and I commend the organizers for such wonderful training,” Mr Salisu said.

The training was supervised by the Arewa Agenda for Sustainable Development team.

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TECH DIGEST – The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has facilitated creations of information and Communication Technology (Hubs) in selected universities across geopolitical zones in Nigeria.

The Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu A. Inuwa disclosed this at the National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (NCAIR) Office, in Wuye, Abuja where he hosted Vice Chancellor of Federal University of Technology, Minna (FUTMinna), Prof. Abdullahi Bala.

According to him, the creation of an ICT hub in selected universities across the geo-political zones, which included FUTMinna, was in line with the NCAIR’s mandate of collaborating with tertiary institutions in empowering students with modern technology skills.

Kashifu said that economic diversification is not basically just to alleviate poverty, but also to create prosperity by designing a high-value market chain for our local production.

He explained that technological ecosystem comprises of the Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SME’s) which grow lineally, and the Innovative Driven Enterprises (IDE’s) which grow exponentially and have a broader market.

He said: “Innovation is the best mechanism in creating prosperity as we can see that most of the developed and wealthy nations do not depend on their natural resources but on creative innovations.”

Kashifu expressed his delight at the University’s intention in seeking more collaboration and strategic synergy in sustaining a digital economy that would prepare students for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and boost Industrialization moving the country forward.

Earlier in his speech, Prof. Bala, said that the purpose of the visit was to thank the Agency for its intervention of IT Hub to the university, and also to leverage on the cordial relationship between the Agency and the University in exploring more collaborative opportunities for productive interactions in Research, Innovation and Development in Emerging technologies.

He assured the DG that the University has scaled its capacity to further collaborate and complement the efforts of NITDA by creating an International Centre for Emerging Technology, an initiative which he believes, in collaboration with the NCAIR, will focus on areas of  Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Capacity Building, Research and Development.

By PRNigeria

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NEWS DIGEST – Mr Adebayo Shittu, the Minister of Communications, says the Federal Government has no intention to abandon its plan to establish ICT hubs across the six geo-political zones of the country.

Shittu, who gave the clarification on Thursday in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja, said the 2018 Budget currently before the National Assembly already made provision for the formation.

NAN reports that while representing President Muhammadu Buhari at an ICT forum in Abuja mid-2016, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo had unveiled the plan for two ‘Super Hubs’ in Lagos and Abuja, and six others across the country by the end of 2017.

It was however reported in the media that over 19 months after it was announced, the initiative only exists on paper.

An ICT or technology hub is a space where technologists gather to spring up ideas, to network, develop programme and designs, for economic benefits.

A hub can establish a minimum of 10 startups and a maximum of 20 in about five teams each. This means that 20 startups multiplied by five teams each will create about 100 jobs and multiplying 100 by the eight hubs as planned by the Federal Government will yield 800 jobs.

Checks on the Nigeria ICT Roadmap had shown that the Ministry of Communications targeted the creation of over two million jobs by 2020 through the establishment of the hubs.

The minister stressed that the Federal Government would not relent in its effort at bringing the plan to a reality.

‘’To the best of my knowledge, our 2018 Budget makes provision for establishing a number of hubs across the country.

‘’So it is not true that we are abandoning that idea. As far as this ministry is concerned, it is work in progress,” he said.

He restated the plan by the ministry to also establish an ICT development bank and ICT exhibition centre in the country.

Shittu said the bank would provide funding for the industry, promote entrepreneurship and job creation, adding that the ICT exhibition centre would encourage investment in the ICT sector.

‘’Already, we are also working on establishing an ICT development bank to take care of the special needs of stakeholders in the ICT industry.

“Again, we are working on establishing an ICT exhibition centre just like the one you have in Barcelona, Spain and a few other initiatives,” he said.

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