UNESCO organises digital skills training for students in Ogun
Raymond Osho
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) through its Institute for African Culture and International Understanding has organised a digital skills training programme for scores of secondary school students in Ogun state to survive in the digital environment.
The Director of the Institute, Distinguished Professor Emeritus Peter Okebukola, OFR, who spoke on the theme of the programme : ‘Young Creatives in the Digital Environment; A Digital skill Training’, noted that the digital environment has become a porous platform, hence the need to equip the younger generation with the necessary skills needed to survive in the digital age.
Held at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL) in Abeokuta, the state capital on Tuesday, the student participants were equipped with digital skills, which, according to the institute will not only enable them to cope in the digital environment but will equally enable them to contribute to the prosperity of Nigeria.
Professor Emeritus Peter Okebukola stated that technology is one of the major key drivers of economic growth of all countries and that is saddening that young people have limited access to the digital tools needed to navigate the digital environment.
Reeling out the rationale behind the programme, he stated that the major aim of the digital skill training was to bring together young Africans with a view to equipping them with the knowledge and skills they can utilize in order to promote and protect the diversity of their cultural expressions in the digital environment.
His words “It is common knowledge that technology is one of the major key drivers of economic growth of all countries and regions. It is also a truism that young people have limited access to the digital tools needed to navigate the digital environment.
“These tools are of grave importance to them as it is the only means through which they can have access to learn digital skills that will not only allow them function in the digital environment but also last them a lifetime” he added.
One of the conveners, Oluwafeyikemi Osunfisan in an interview with newsmen at the side-line of the programme, called on both the state and federal governments to provide the youths with necessary skills needed to access the digital environment.
Her view was that the investment of the state and federal governments in youth digital skill development would translate into national prosperity.
“This idea will help the Nigerian economy because it is an individual with access to all tools and skills available within the digital environment that can grow their earning capacity, can contribute to the growth and development of the nation through payment of taxes, payment of basic bills, generate foreign revenue, encourage foreign investment to the nation and so many more diverse opportunities”
“We are calling on the government to do the needful and ensure that there is provision for creatives to have digital tools to afford them the opportunity to learn digital skills that will enable them cope in the digital environment, promote their cultural goods and services, expand their knowledge base, generate more revenue and contribute to the overall growth of the country”
