In a bid to create an awareness on the importance of digital economy as a means to curb the rate of unemployment in Nigeria, Dr. Isa Pantami, the Minister of Communications and Digital economy has begun a mentorship program for secondary students across the country. READ
Pantami, delivering a mentorship lecture titled, “Digital Economy and Emerging Technologies” on Monday in Abuja stated that he is more interested in ensuring that Nigerian youths especially those in secondary schools become more acquainted with the thriving digital economy.
Pantami who revealed that National Digital Economy Policy launched by President Buhari on the 28th of November 2019, said that it was aimed to provide a platform for digital technologies to stimulate growth in all sectors of the economy, especially in the area of job provision.
Daily times describes digital economy as an economy that encompasses businesses that sell goods and services via the internet, and digital platforms that connect spare capacity and demand. Pantami, stated that the contemporary world being dominated by digital economy is rapidly replacing the traditional economy as emerging technologies coming up with revolutions that are changing the world.
“If you look at it today, the world is being dominated by digital economy, which is replacing the traditional economy and emerging technologies coming up with revolutions that are completly changing the world” Furthermore, Pantami who frowned at the incessant rate of unemployment in the country said, “digital economy will create an enabling environment for the promotion of digital jobs across the length and breadth of the country”, he said.
He noted, “The job opportunities we have in this country is really worrisome, if you look at the total number of graduates every year, it’s really worrisome, students struggling on campus to eat two-squared meal when they graduate, there is no job, when they get the job, the salary will not take them up, because of this, we need to be more interested in producing more employers instead of continuing to produce potential job employees.”
Hence to produce potential job employers, he has decided to change the trend by organizing mentorship programs for youths in secondary school to ensure that they are guided in making the rest choice of career choices from a young age, especially in the soon to be digitally economy dominated world.
He stated, “this is a general mentorship class, what I discovered that many of our children in secondary do not get the right mentorship they require, guidance and counselling to determine their career in the future, usually, they only choose across based on how they are interested in the name.
“So when they are interested they just apply, and I think we need to be visiting their schools; providing mentorship for them; guiding them; so that they will prepare and choose relevant disciplines that would be very critical, “he noted. He also revealed that these mentorship program will change their perception of being potential job seekers to being potential job providers.
Source: Daily Times
