USPF reaching out to the masses. Trains on IT skills in Ijebu Igbo

The Federal government is reaching out to the masses of this country, by organizing workshops on IT skills to for, through the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF), with a view to providing universal access to Information and Communications Technologies in rural, un-served and under-served areas. One of such workshop sessions was organized on July 2 – 3, 2018, at Ijebu Igbo, Ogun State. The theme of the 2-day workshop was “South-West Zonal Stakeholder Engagement workshop on ICT utilization and sustainability”.

The workshop had in attendance, the Minster of Communications, who is also the Chairman of USPF, Honourable Adebayo Shittu and the Chairman of Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, who doubles as the Vice-Chairman of USPF, Senator Olabiyi Durojaiye, in attendance.

In his opening remark, the Honorable Minister of Communications and Chairman of USPF, Barrister Adebayo Shittu, reiterated that, ICT is currently taking over from oil as the economic mainstay of the country and it is currently, the surest way of creating jobs and developing the society. He stated that the USPF’s target was to train 150 citizens during the workshop, but only 100 were registered for the workshop, which will empower them to have skills that will help them get jobs, create jobs and contribute to the economy.

“The government cannot provide jobs for all unemployed youths, but we want to identify hidden talents in Nigeria and equip them. Some countries have no Oil but are better developed than Nigeria. These Countries leverage on Information and Communication Technology. Nigerians need to learn more about ICT to aid development of the country,” the Minister stressed.

The Chairman of NCC and Vice Chairman, USPF, Senator Olabiyi Durojaiye, while declaring the workshop open, stated that, One of the cardinal policy objectives of the NCC, is to identify, equip and train talented Nigerian youths, urging participants to fully harness the digital economic opportunities available online. “We want to identify and equip our own Bill Gates or hidden talents to be discovered and to blossom. These talents we believe we can also get from the rural areas. All we need to do is to identify them,” he emphasized.

Speaking at the workshop, the Head, Strategy and Corporate Performance, USPF, Kelechi Nwankwo, explained that, the success stories of ICT access in rural areas occasioned by USPF abound. “We have addressed the three aspects of USPF….Availability, Accessibility and Affordability”, he stressed.

The second day of the workshop witnessed the training of about 100 people n web development, app development and Computer hardware at Ijebu Igbo, Ogun state. The Chairman of NCC and Vice Chairman of USPF, Senator Olabiyi Durojaiye, was on hand to witness the training in progress on the second day of the workshop.

The aim of the workshop to discuss the programs of the USPF, encourage benefiting Communities and schools to use and protect the infrastructure provided, while developing the capacity of participants to fully harness the digital economic opportunities available online.