The Kaduna state government is to commence ICT skills training in vocational institutes, primary schools and secondary schools across the state.
Gov. Nasir El-rufai disclosed this on Friday, in an interview with newsmen at the ongoing Kaduna Investment Summit 6.0 with the theme : Toward sustainable knowledge-based economy”.
He said his administration believed that the future of jobs in the world would be digital.
“So everyone needs digital skills and we intend to provide that and we have an agreement with IHS to cover Kaduna with 3g and 4g networks, so that everyone will have access to the Internet ” he said.
He said impacting digital skills and providing infrastructure, were opportunities that young people will take advantage of.
Commenting on the Kaduna infrastructural development plan, El-rufai said his administration had begun implementing the plan that was created in 2018, but which he inherited with a lot of deficits.
According to him, the implementation, by his administration, was already visible all around the metropolitan and rural areas of the state.
“We believe in planning and thinking through what our state needs and we develop human capital capacity and the state, so as to further develop entrepreneurs and economic prosperity capacity” he said.
El-rufai described Kadinvest as a key platform on which the state can present its plan and invite investors to join, in actualising the state’s economic development plan.
He disclosed that 40 per cent of the state’s population were below the age of 15, and 89 per cent below the age 35, noting, “young people are very energetic and entrepreneurial, but they need opportunity, education and skills.
” Our state government has been investing between 40 -45 per cent of its annual budget on education and health care, because we believe that these are the fundamental foundations for building human capacity”.
He added that the state government wants more young people to acquire digital skills so as to participate in the global economy, pointing out that for this reason, the state had introduced several skills from entrepreneurship to ICT, using Kaduna’s ICT hubs.
Also speaking ,the former Emir of Kano, Khalifa Sanusi Lamido Sanusi II, stated the need for skills creation for young people, so as to create an enabling environment for economic growth and development.
He cited data as one of the most crucial support that can be given to entrepreneurs for innovation.
“if somebody wants to innovate in the health sector it is to have data of people who use medical services, the location of hospitals to create and innovate solutions that will provide easy access to health care delivery and education.
He emphasized the need to provide data access to the private sector, as it was very important for market access, which the state government should seek to create.
“If the Kaduna state govt continues with its e-government plan, it will be a big market in itself and it will encourage investment, which are all a knowledge economy aspiration and a shift in government spending to match priorities”, he said
According to him, job creation in a knowledge economy is not about creating jobs in Kaduna but equipping citizens with skills to participate in the global economy.
” You have global platforms now that enable people with developed skills to find employment anywhere in the world as the future of the knowledge economy”, Sanusi added.
He congratulated the state government for inaugurating its 2021-2023 Development Plan, to transform the state into a knowledge-based economy.
He further described the aspirations outlined in the plan as “critical” to addressing the country’s dwindling economy due to over-dependence on oil revenue. (NAN)
