Digital Economy reduces Unemployment in Nigeria -Pantami
Chima Azubuike, Gombe
Nigeria’s Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Ali Pantami, has said unemployment has been reduced by the strategic use of Information Technology in the country, stressing that without Information and Communications Technology, tertiary institutions will not be different from Almajiri system.
Pantami disclosed this on Tuesday, in his keynote address at National Adopted Village for Smart (NAVSA), Gombe State, organised by National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), for 140 smart farmers, where beneficiaries got N100,000, and farm implements.
According to Pantami, Netherlands and Brazil are examples of countries that have deployed ICT to improve agriculture, adding that Nigeria is taking a queue in enhancing the potentials embedded in Agriculture through digitalization.
He said, “Digitization is key to our economic development. It is no more a luxury but it becomes a necessity. You will appreciate that digitalization is a necessity if you look at how Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted the world. Many development countries don’t conduct activities physically.
“Almost 90 percent of their activities are conducted virtually and according to a research by management consulting firm owned by PWC that an increase of digitalization by 10 percent will reduce unemployment by around 0.98 percent by implication digitalization brings about an end to unemployment or rather reduces unemployment, in addition to the fact that broad band penetration by 10 percent could increase Gross Domestic Product of a Nation by a minimum of 1.6 percent to 6.8 percent this is to show to us how digitalization has been the key to economic development.
“The entire digital economy sector is no more a stand alone sector but rather key enabler to each and every sector. If you take away ICT from the university, you will discover they are no way better than tsangaya school system (almajiri system) because with ICT you can’t use your computer to type your questions, you can carry text books but without ICT you can’t get material online. It is the same in Agriculture.”
On his part, the NITDA boss Kachifu Abdullahi, said the focus of the smart farmer initiative is to transform Agriculture business in Nigeria.
“In digital economy innovation plays huge roles in creating values and prosperity. Therefore as part of our implementation of financial digital economy policy. We came up with this innovative initiative to transform Agricultural business in Nigeria. To make it a fancy and attractive for our youth to increase the production as well as reduce wastages in the industry,” Abdullahi said.
