NITDA trains 442 technical workers of public institutions

The Nigerian Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has just trained 442 workers of public institutions to enhance their digital skills.

Speaking at the capacity building programme held Thursday in Abuja, Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, the director-general of the NITDA, said digital literacy is a pre-requisite to digital transformation of the nation’s economy, hence, the need for citizens to have the requisite knowledge in digital technology.

The event marked the closing ceremony of the first phase of the capacity building for members of the Digital Transformation Technical Working Groups (DT-TWGs) of the Federal Public Institutions (PTI).

The training programme is a follow up to the inauguration of Chairmen of Digital Transformation Technical Working Group (DT-TWGs) across the first phase of the Federal Public Institutions (FPIs) held on Thursday last week by Isa Pantami, minister of communications and digital economy.

Mallam Abdullahi explained that DT-TWGs members are to coordinate the implementation of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS), National e-Government Master Plan (NeGMP) and Digital Transformation related activities in the public sector at the Federal level and ensure that all IT projects are designed and implemented in accordance with the provision of the Nigerian Government Enterprise Architecture (NGEA) and the Nigeria e-Government Inter-operability Framework (NeGIF).

The capacity building programme which commenced on 28th September 2020 with training for the Batch A of the DT-TWGS members lasted for four weeks.

The Director General in his remarks reminded participants that NITDA, by this programme, has fulfilled the promise it made to embark on massive training with the sole believe that enhancing the capacity of the participants is the first point of call to ensure efficient implementation of the responsibilities bestowed on them.

Speaking further, Abdullahi noted that public service is the engine room for the implementation of government policies and programmes and as such building the capacities of government officials to deliver on government mandates is a number one priority of any government.

“NITDA being the Apex IT development and regulation Agency, our primary focus is your capabilities to deliver on the Federal Government digital economy mandates”, he added.

He however urged and encouraged the participants to use what they have learnt to train their colleagues and also get their buy-in for the journey into digital Nigeria as he believed that all participants now have a 360 view of what Government is trying to achieve.

While responding to some of the issues raised by participants on change management and leadership, he assured participants that the Agency has already designated courses for CEOs and Management so that they can all key into capacity building programme and the vision of the Federal Government of Nigeria.

The twelve courses covered in the training were: National Digital Economy Policy & Strategy (NDEPS) & Nigeria e-Government Master Plan (NeGMP); Digital Transformation: Public Sector Perspective; Government Digital Service (GDS) Innovation; GOV.NG Domain Management & Sensitization; and Implementation of the Nigeria Government Enterprise Architecture (NGEA) and Nigeria e-Government Interoperability Framework (Ne-GIF).

Kashifu, NITDA DG (Centre) with some beneficiaries of the capacity-building programme

Others are Implementation of the Guidelines for Nigerian Content Development in ICT by FPIs; IT Clearance Requirements and Processes; ICT Systems Security in the Public Sector; IT Project Management; Organizational Change Management; Government Business Processes Management, and Digitization Approach and Implementation of the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR): Public Sector Perspective.

At the end of the programme, information available to NITDA indicated that 126 Federal Public Institutions, with NITDA inclusive, were invited for the programme and total of 442 members of DG-TWGs from 89 FPIs were successfully trained and awarded certificates at the conclusion of the training.

The Director General who expressed his delight at the outcome of the training has dubbed the successful 442 members as ‘Champions of the National Digital Transformation’.

He promised all the participants and the various institutions they represent that NITDA will support them and ensure all their concerns are addressed after due consultation with the Honourable Minister.