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The National
Information Technology Development Agency has trained at least 22,000
unemployed youths including graduates in Information Communication
Technology (ICT) over the past four years, Cleopas Angaye, its Director
General said at the weekend.

He said the agency works with states who have demonstrated willingness to develop the youth.

“The agency trained
15,000 people on basic computer appreciation skills, using mobile
internet units across various states/local government areas and
schools; 6,100 unemployed graduates on IT essentials; 600 graduates on
IT skilled acquisition and 100 primary school pupils in Niger State,”
he said.

“Niger state
responded and we trained 200 people from that state and provided all
the trainees with the laptops and printers. Other states did not
provide, but they made the training comfortable by providing some
subsidy for the participants, transported them and made them very
happy.”

He also said the
agency is also planning to train 750 lecturers from various tertiary
institutions drawn from the 36 states and Federal Capital Territory
(FCT) over the next six months in core IT curriculum.

He expressed concern over the unhelpful attitude of political leaders towards the development of ICT in the country.

Securing the Internet

Mr Angaye said the
agency has a target of training about 500,000 civil servants under the
ongoing Computer for All Nigerians Initiative (CANI) aimed at enabling
Nigerians to own personal computers at a cheap cost.

Mr Angaye added
that the agency also provided infrastructure backbone to networks and
connectivity for various MDAs at federal and state levels.

He also stressed
the need for the National Assembly to expedite the consideration and
passage of the Anti Cybercrime bill to reduce the spate of cybercrime
in the country, just as he unveiled the agency’s plan to introduce
SCAN-ICT initiative in an effort to tackle the menace.

“NITDA has embarked on some initiatives to improve IT diffusion in the country,” Mr Angaye said.