The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami says for federal government to fully achieve the Digital Nigeria Agenda, there was need to reskill journalists in the country with digital skills.
Dr. Pantami spoke at the Opening Ceremony of Digital Skills Training for ICT Journalists holding at the e-Government Training Center, Public Service Institute of Nigeria, Dutse Alhaji, Kubwa Express Way, Abuja with the theme: “Digital Skills in News Reportage for ICT Journalists”.
The workshop is organised by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and supervised by the Federal ministry of Communications and Digital Economy.
In remarks, the Minister said that he considered the training critical because digital skills was one of the eight critical pillars of the National Digital Economic Policy and Strategy unveiled by President Mohammadu Buhari in 2019.
Pantami explained that he gave directive for the training early in the year and followed up to ensure effective Implementation of that directive because of the importance he attached to journalists in the effective implementation of the policy.
While lamenting that multimedia journalism is gradually taking over the space for conventional journalism charged the media to rise above board by working according to the ethics of the profession and to assist government achieve its objectives.
He lauded the management of NITDA for taking the lead in organizing such training and urged other parastatals under the ministry to follow the agency in training the ICT journalists.
He said, a responsive journalism was key to the success of democracy and good governance therefore, urged the participants to effectively utilise the training opportunity to better their reportage.
Pantami further informed that the ministry was working on restructuring all the departments, because most of them are obsolete.
“We will have many critical departments that will focus on digital innovation, entrepreneurship, digital economy and many more to make sure that we are on right track for a digital Nigeria.
Pantami, who decried the culture of preference of skills over certificate, said, that the status quo must change for the country to move forward.
“What is most important is not the certificate but the skills. Many developed nations are promoting skills rather than certificate.”
Earlier in his address, the Director of NITDA, Mallam Kashifu Abdullahi Inuwa said the agency packaged the training to reskill the capacity of ICT journalists in order not to be left behind in our journey to digital Nigeria.
By virture of the role journalist play in the agenda setting and in informing the society, he asserted that that the training is expected to open opportunities for the trainees to be better empowered and positioned to deliver on their duties because of new challenges thrown up by the pandemic.
‘‘Never before digital skills have been critical than they are today. As we are moving from the initial phase of Coronavirus pandemic emergency response to the recovery phase and reemerging phase, we have seen a lot with the pandemic and the pandemic has forced you and I to embrace new practices such as social distances and remote everything.
‘‘As we get set to embrace this new normal, we are set to reskill ourselves and it has been proven that the only thing that works well under this pandemic is digital technology, which remains the only way to get out of this pandemic.
‘‘We feel it is important to train and reskill you so that you cannot be left behind in our journey to digital Nigeria. The skills can open opportunities for you because there are challenges everywhere. The pandemic has shown us that the hidden opportunity in it is digital skills in it as we have seen that a lot of people are making huge money from digital skills during the lockdown, while others are losing.’’
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Emmanuel Elebeke
Quelle/Source: Vangard, 14.07.2020
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