The Abia State Government has announced a collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Innovation, Communication, and Digital Economy to facilitate Abians’ participation in the 3 million acquisition of digital skills training program offered by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA).
The Commissioner for Information and Culture, Prince Okey Kanu, disclosed this on Monday while addressing Journalists on the outcome of this week’s edition of the Executive Council meeting presided over by Governor Alex Otti.
Prince Kanu revealed that the State Ministry of Digital Economy is establishing a one-stop shop to streamline processes for agencies like NAFDAC, CAC, and SON.
He said the initiative aims to improve business prospects and ease of operation for companies in Abia state, particularly SMEs.
Kanu noted that Governor Otti has also supported the registration of over 600 businesses with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), and added that the gesture was to support Small and Medium-Scale Entrepreneurs who previously faced registration challenges.
The Commissioner further announced that the State Ministry of Education is scheduled to conduct inspections and evaluations of private schools this week to ensure they meet government’s required standards.
Kanu who expressed concern about the lack of interest exhibited by Abia youths in the ongoing recruitment exercise of the Nigerian Police Force, emphasized the importance of young people considering careers in the security sector to address the perceived marginalization of the South East region.
Elaborating on the NITDA program, the Commissioner for Digital Economy, Mr. Mathew Ekwuribe, explained that the federal government’s 3 MTT digital acquisition program will be rolled out in phases.
Ekwuruibe said that the first phase would focus on 12 digital skills, including Cyber,-security, Game Development, Cloud Computing, Beef Ups, AI/Machine Learning, Data Science, Product Management, Quality Assurance, Data Analysis/Visualization, UI/UX Design, and Software Development.
He said that the Ministry is in partnership with Google to train Abia youths and register streets and roads in the state to improve the ease of doing business.
“We want every business to be registered in Google so that it would be very easy for people to access their businesses online.
“Abia state has never been in the digital space, so we are doing all our best now to bring Abia to to limelight”.
Contributing, the Director-General of the Abia Orientation Agency, Pastor Dike Nwankwo expressed concern about street trading activities in Aba/Umuahia and announced that the government will soon commence the enforcement of a ban on street trading in the state.
