Chimezie Amadi is the Commissioner for Digital Economy in Imo State. In this interview with JOHNKENNEDY UZOMA in Owerri, he speaks on how the state government is addressing youth unemployment through training in digital skills, among other achievements of his ministry.
AS the Commissioner for Digital Economy, what is digital economy all about and why was the ministry established?
The ministry is the first of its kind in the state and in the country created by Governor Hope Uzodimma. The importance of the ministry is to promote the adoption of technology in governance and social economy. The ministry is created to ensure that technology is adopted in the way we access social services in the state and the way we practice economy. The whole essence is to ensure that technology is defined in every facet of our society.
Digital economy is simply an internet-based economy or what we call web internet economy. Today, digital economy paves way for easy economic activities and more gains within other traditional economy. Before now, we only know how to go to the market to buy Egusi and other items and make a pot of soup for the family. But today, digital economy has provided seamless means; there are online market places and there are digital platforms created and in such platforms, you can sell and purchase goods and services anywhere in the world. That is what we call digital economy.
Technology has brought new civilisation through the internet. The internet-based economy creates job opportunities and wealth because it enables easy access and thriving business activities in commerce, health service, agriculture and education.
Today in transportation sector of the economy, there is a ride-hailing technology. You stay at a certain location, order for a ride through your smart phone and someone at the end will comes to your location and take you to your destination. This makes the transportation sector more efficient and safe. Through the instrumentality of an app, you can order a ride and you will be at the comfort of your house. You don’t need to stand by the side of the road. Just use your mobile phone, call the driver and he will arrive and take you to wherever you want to go.
So, based on the Imo Youth Economy Agenda, we are training the youth, targeting to equip them with such technological skills to enable them to thrive economically in digital economy. We see thriving businesses springing up across Imo when these youths are equipped and many job opportunities are created.
There are six pillars under which the training revolves. The first one is called Digital Literacy. Under this pillar, we develop strategic initiatives. The second pillar is about solid infrastructure, among other pillars.
In the Skill-Up, our overall target is to train over 300,000 youths in three years. This means that every year, the ministry will train 100,000 youths on skills. After training, our next target is to connect 60 percent of our graduands to jobs opportunities while the remaining 30 percent will be provided with start-up funds that can help them launch their businesses to contribute to the economy of the state.
What is the cost implication of training a youth in digital economy skills?
Without the intervention of the governor through the scholarship programme in the Skill-Up, none of the youth may be able to afford the training. The least amount for the training is N350,000. And if you go to Cisco Network Academy or the one offered in MasterCard, you pay a fortune to be trained in any of the skills. Our own training here is more impactful because we are not doing online training, rather we do face-to-face training which is more efficient.
On training the people at the grassroots, we have the first cohort where we have trained 5,000 youths and among them are the physically challenged and the aged. Every level of society is represented there and we are about starting the second cohort. In our first cohort, 80 percent of our centres were concentrated in urban areas but for the second cohort, we have acquired additional training centres. A place like K O. Mbadiwe University will take care of a good number of trainees from that axis. We also have centres at Imo State University of Agriculture Umuagwo, Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO), Federal Polytechnic, Nekede, among other centres. In the third cohort, we have plans to start but we can’t use the centres at the Local Government Areas because they are in bad shape though Governor Hope Uzodimma is making efforts to put in place the ICT centres in the LGAs.
Do you plan to extend the training to LGAs?
I don’t know if you have come across our policy thrust which is a five-year plan which we call IDEA. This idea is for total transformation of Imo State using technology. And it cuts across all LGAs in Imo State. Today, you can see that there is already an effort to digitise government processes, specifically in the areas of payment of salaries, capturing of number of Imo workforce as well as workers compensation. Imo is among the 30 states in the federation that has robust development and database centres which is well managed in terms of efficiency in the way people receive compensation on the work done for public service. You can see that salaries of workers are paid on time.
The IGR is better today than what it used to be. This ministry has already hit the ground running. We have already conducted our technology audit and we are working with IGR office and data centres.
We are also moving from ministries to agencies and departments, looking for how to block the loopholes to ensure the state records accelerated IGR. From our audit, there is the need to move fast in deploying technology in the transportation system, picketing system and education to be able to capture a good number of our youths. By the time we go into full scale operation, you will find out that the impact in IGR will be massive and that will bring about an accelerated development in other sectors of the economy.
What is government’s expectation from the trainees?
We have very high expectations because this is about creating a new economy or what we call a start-up economy like what we see in US, Europe, and Asian countries, what we call Asian Tigers where the digital economy has been the key driver for socioeconomic transformation. For us in Imo State, we are equipping our people with digital skills, especially the basic skills to make them become key players in the management of the economy.
A lot have changed about improving economy because economists are now adopting technology as the engine of the economy. Technology is now deployed in almost every aspect but we need people, especially indigenous people, to have required skills, in order to provide digital services to make life more meaningful. So, what we expect from our graduands is for them to use the skills not just for themselves but so that they are economically useful for the society. We also expect them to deploy these skills and use them to create wealth. One thing about knowledge is that it does not really make sense when you acquire it and you don’t use it to create wealth. Any knowledge that is not transformed into wealth creation is more or less useless.
Our expectations is that the graduands who have passed out in the Skill-Up Imo Project, which is initiated by Governor Uzodimma, are able to use it to create wealth and develop peaceful resolution that solve societal challenges, especially in Imo State. The other expectation is that they should be able to deploy those skills to provide services for the development of the state.
Can you give more explanation on the job opportunities available for the trainees?
Yes, there are job opportunities. Already, companies had started rushing down to Imo State immediately after the flag-off to be part of the training and gains thereof. Companies like Konga, Zinox Computers, among others have indicated interest. There is also a film-making company in Imo State that has employed some of them. Some of the companies are making efforts to launch their companies in Owerri. When they do, the first point of contact will be the graduates. Digital skills brighten opportunities to become an economic-oriented person. Because people with digital skills are scarce, the demand for the few that have the skills are high. People are rushing and running after them. If you have an added digital skill, you have high advantage and chances to be employed than the person without such skill. With this training, we are technically addressing youth unemployment.
Can you link the digital economy and training of these youths to agro-economic activities of women?
We are here to adopt technology to enhance opportunities. The women in Ohaji/Egbema and Amaudara communities have better opportunities today because of the Ministry of Digital Economy. You might not be seeing it now but few months down the line, there would be lots of innovations. The woman processing palm oil in my village today, the only opportunity she has to sell her product is to transport the product to Owerri. She can’t utilise any of the platforms to market her product. But today, we have equipped, through our training, some young Imolites and part of their assignment is to create platforms to enhance accessibility to markets for the women. We are also creating home grown Imo developed platforms and it will be for everybody in Imo State to access. We have graduated the first 5,000 and all of them have been deployed in different locations. Once the platforms are launched, we shall market and advertise it and that would encourage our people to embrace it. So, whether you are in Owerri or Lagos, you can order your fresh palm wine in your village because you have seen it on our platform.
What are the challenges you have encountered in this digital economy journey?
One of the things people see as challenge maybe if people are going to accept the technology. But I am not going to do my work looking at them as challenges. The opportunity rather makes me to work harder. What people may see as challenges could be on the area of sustainability of the programme. We are in an environment where there is policy somersault.
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