NITDA DG: Africa must bridge gap between digital training, jobs
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NITDA DG: Africa must bridge gap between digital training, jobs
By Alabidun Shuaib AbdulRahman
The Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, has called for greater focus on converting digital skills training into jobs, businesses and improved livelihoods across Africa.
Abdullahi made the call while participating in a high-level panel session titled “Scaling Africa’s Digital Workforce,” held under the Digital Skills and Talent Session of “Nigeria at Scale: Building Digital Systems for Shared Prosperity,” on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York.
The NITDA boss, who spoke alongside Gabon’s Minister of ICT, Mark Doumba, and Product Leader and Investor, Oji Udezue, said Africa’s digital workforce strategy should move beyond measuring success by the number of people trained.
The session was moderated by Joannes Paulus Yimbesalu, Founder of Nanaade and Africa Skills Alliance and Fellow of the Social Innovation + Change Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School.
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Abdullahi said the focus should be on whether digital training translates into productive employment, entrepreneurship and higher incomes.
He said, “We have industrialised training; we have not yet industrialised the transition.”
According to him, young people face three major barriers in moving from digital training to productive work.
He identified the first as the “trust gate,” where employers struggle to verify the capabilities of job seekers.
The second, he said, was the “platform and connectivity gate,” characterised by inadequate access to devices, affordable internet, reliable electricity and opportunities.
Abdullahi described the third as the “demand gate,” noting that the number of young people entering Africa’s labour market significantly exceeds the available formal employment opportunities.
Speaking on Nigeria’s response, the NITDA DG said the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy and the agency were working to link digital literacy, advanced technical skills, connectivity, cloud infrastructure and job creation as components of a broader digital transformation agenda.
He cited the 3 Million Technical Talent programme, which he said had trained more than 143,000 fellows across three cohorts.
He also pointed to the Talent Registry, designed to help connect verified digital skills with employers.
Abdullahi further highlighted Project BRIDGE, which is expected to deploy at least 90,000 kilometres of open-access fibre and expand Nigeria’s national backbone to about 125,000 kilometres, with coverage extending to all 774 local government areas.
He said the initiative would expand connectivity to thousands of schools, healthcare facilities and local government offices, thereby enabling digitally trained Nigerians outside major urban centres to participate in the digital economy.
The NITDA boss also distinguished between digital literacy and digital employability.
He said the agency’s Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan 2.0 was designed to provide Nigerians with foundational digital capabilities needed to participate safely and confidently in the digital economy.
According to him, advanced programmes such as 3MTT were targeted at equipping young Nigerians with skills in artificial intelligence and machine learning, data science, software development, cloud computing and cybersecurity.
Abdullahi, however, said Africa’s digital workforce strategy must not be limited to formal technology jobs.
He said digital inclusion should also cover traders, artisans, farmers, mechanics, transport operators, food vendors and other entrepreneurs whose businesses could benefit from technology.
He said digital skills should enable such workers to use smartphones productively, receive digital payments, market their products through social media, connect with customers and suppliers, maintain digital records, protect themselves against fraud and use artificial intelligence tools to improve productivity.
“The question is not, ‘Can this person get a technology job?’ It is, ‘Can technology help this person earn more, reduce costs, reach more customers and run a better business?’” he said.
Abdullahi urged governments and development partners to devote more resources to the transition from learning to earning.
He said, “Fund the corridor, not another classroom, verifiable credentials and first-paid-work placement, because Africa’s young people are stuck in the gap between the certificate and the paycheck.
He said NITDA’s measure of success should therefore extend beyond the number of Nigerians trained to include the number who secure jobs, establish businesses, increase productivity, earn higher incomes and participate meaningfully in the digital economy.
