Dr. ‘Bosun Tijani, Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, believes that by 2030, 90% of Nigerians should be digitally literate.
“We have a programme called digital literacy,” the minister said on Thursday during on program on Channels Television.
“The plan is that by 2030, 90% of Nigerians should be digitally literate. Digital literacy doesn’t mean that you become a technical talent but it gives you the foundation to be able to choose that you also want to participate in the digital economy.”
According to Dr. Tijani, the Federal Government intends to train three million Nigerians in technical skills over the next few years. He stated that his ministry is working with state governments to achieve the aim and ensure that the effort is well-supported.
The minister also stated that the Federal Government intends to establish hardware training centers in renowned tech hotspots such as Aba, Abia State, and Computer Village, Lagos State.
He stated that the goal is to improve human resource development and create more work possibilities for over 200 million Nigerians.
When asked if the government intends to use indigenous languages as the language of instruction in tech trainings and software development in Nigeria, the minister responded, “We are also quite keen on how to ensure that Nigeria can become a leader and participate actively in the Artificial Intelligence (AI) development because this is where technology is now being biased, especially when your own language and reality is not taken into consideration.
“One of the things we are doing there is supporting projects and initiatives that can ensure that all languages in Nigeria are also included in the AI drive so that the machines can recognise all the languages and we are not talking about the popular ones which is Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo; we are talking about all the languages that people may not pay attention to as important languages.”
