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The Bank of Industry, African Development Bank and the National Information Technology Development Agency have partnered to boost digital literacy among Nigerian youths.
According to a statement from the bank on Sunday, the collaboration was revealed at the BOI’s recent Investment in Digital and Creative Enterprises stakeholders’ forum in Lagos.
BoI Managing Director, Olasupo Olusi, explained that with a youthful growing population and increasing urbanisation, activities in the digital and creative sector had continued to increase, maintaining that it was imperative to further drive productivity in the Nigerian economy.
According to him, the creative and digital economy is central to the economic strategy of President Bola Tinubu’s transformation plan, as the digital and creative sector plays a key role in driving employment creation, reducing poverty and inequality in the polity.
“With such recognition, there is a need for us to reposition our focus on ways to improve the activities and output from the digital and creative economic space. Such repositioning involves the introduction of a transformative initiative such as the iDICE programme.
“In recognition of the critical role of the creative sector in economic development, the Bank of Industry in 2011 created a Creative and Digital Group to provide tailor-made financing for projects and the success story has been enormous,” he stressed.
The Coordinator of Jobs for Youth in Africa Strategy, AfDB Group, Tapera Muzira, said the iDICE initiative by the Federal Government is timely and strategic, explaining that it is transformative as it would build the systems to support more competitive entrepreneurs powered by creativity and digital technologies.
He mentioned that the iDICE initiative had the potential to create numerous employment opportunities for young individuals, emphasizing that Africa has the highest proportion of young population globally, with over 400 million individuals aged between 15 and 35 years old.
Olusi also highlighted that by 2050, nearly one in four people worldwide is projected to be from Africa, as the continent's population is anticipated to double to 2.5 billion, constituting a quarter of the global population.
He pointed out that the African Development Bank (AfDB) was prioritizing investments in the continent's youth in their upcoming 10-year strategy from 2024 to 2034.
This shift in investment focus towards young people is part of the bank's Jobs for Youth in Africa strategy, which aims to generate 25 million jobs and provide industry-specific skills training for youths within a decade.
He mentioned that the iDICE program would offer support to 200 technology and creative startups and extend financial services to 450 digital technology Small and Medium Enterprises in Nigeria.
The Director General of NITDA, Kashifu Abdullahi, stated that their Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan is targeted at achieving digital literacy in Nigeria by 2027, with a focus on Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, and blockchain to propel the country onto the global stage of knowledge-driven economies.
