NCC holds annual human capacity workshop in Abuja

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is holding its annual human capacity building workshop in partnership with the Digital Bridge Institute (DBI) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) in Abuja.

The workshop with theme, ‘Strengthening of Human Capacity Building’, started on Monday and is taking place at the Shehu Musa Yaradua Centre with attendance of several global leaders in the ICT sector.

According to Marcelina Tayob, Senior Adviser, Regional Office of the ITU based in Addis Ababa, the workshop is a follow up of last year’s own which held in Mauritius.

‘’The theme was chosen as a follow up of last year’s, and it is all about how to build digital skills in Africa and create jobs, and modern jobs require digital skills.

‘’We have previously had discussions about how every sector in Africa can benefit from these workshops. Last year we focused on agriculture. There were presentations on the dams and how to control the waters with the famous big data which can be analysed and used for predicting and improving. We have also had previous ones about girl child protection and digital migration in Africa. This year we want to provide the framework that will help improve digital skills in Africa,’ he said.

On what to expect from the workshop, the Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, Prof Umar Danbatta stated that he will like to see recommendations that will target elements of digital transformation system, enabling forces of institutions, ICT growth, ICT applications, ICT industry, to make it more impactful and vibrant in order to ensure an institutional change.

‘’We will like to see recommendations on Communications infrastructure, to ensure the right infrastructures are in place that will in turn facilitate access to the internet, and a reliable one with the right speed and volume.

‘’We are talking about broadband infrastructure, because it is the 4G LTE technology that will provide these key features.

‘’For a large country like Nigeria, volume is very important. We are already working hard on broad band penetration in Nigeria. We have already surpassed the 20% minimum benchmark and hoping to reach 30% by the year end,’’ he said.

According to the administrator of the Digital Bridge Institute (DBI), Ike Adinde, It is a major event that seeks to explore how best we can advance knowledge in the context of today’s knowledge society especially as it relates to Africa.

‘’Digital skills have become the norm today. The only way we can compete in the modern world is to build the right skills. Digital skills are driving major developments everywhere, and for Africa to be part of it, we must focus on skills developments across various sectors.

‘’Digital Bridge Institute is Nigeria’s foremost ICT institute established by the NCC for the purpose of building capacity in the ICT space and we have done that very well in the last decade,’’ he said.