Pantami for SkillUpImo graduation Feb 21

Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Pantami, will be in Owerri, Imo State, tomorrow, as Special Guest of Honour at the graduation of 5,000 youths from a digital empowerment programme birthed by Governor Hope Uzodimma.

According to a statement by the Public Relations Officer, Imo State Ministry of Digital Economy and E-Government, Sandra Opara, the event is the first to be organised in any state of the federation to align with Federal Government’s digital economy policy.

The SkillUpImo Project, which is organised by the Ministry of Digital Economy and E-Government, aims to equip Imo citizens with top digital skills for the new world ecosystem pivoted on knowledge economy.

With the overarching target of upskilling, reskilling and training of 300,000 Imo youths to acquire the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR) skill-set needed to align with evolving world, the initiative is in line with Imo Digital Economy Agenda (IDEA), mapped to pan 2022-2026, to make Imo the digital skills hub of Africa and curb unemployment.

Speaking on the graduation, yesterday, the Commissioner for Digital Economy and E-Government, Dr. Amadi Chimezie, expressed satisfaction that the programme has started yielding intended results.

The scheme, according to him, is designed to address one of the critical challenges with respect to youth unemployment, which the country is facing, adding that Imo has positioned itself to join Federal Government to tackle unemployment through the scheme.

“So, it is gratifying to the state government that our graduands, who came in with little or no experience in digital technology, have been equipped with skills in Digital Marketing, Web and App Development, Content Creation, Basic Data Analytics, Graphics Design, Phone and other digital devices repairs, programming, cyber security, among others, and they are now set to graduate to begin to utilise their acquired skills for their personal economic growth and that of the society,” he said.