By Amos Aar
THE NATIONAL Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and the Benue State Government have joined forces to enhance digital literacy across the state, targeting 70% inclusion by 2027.
The collaboration seeks to implement the National Digital Literacy Framework (NDLF) while advancing the state’s “One-Student-One-Digital Skill-One-Computer” initiative, designed to equip learners with essential digital tools and skills for economic opportunities.
Speaking Thursday at the Digital Economy Stakeholders Engagement held at Eyah’s Hotel, Makurdi, Mr. Terwase Gbande, Managing Director of the Benue Digital Infrastructure Company (BDIC), said the state was already implementing the program.
“We are already on ground. That is why NITDA is here. NITDA is here because we signed a partnership to implement this as a sub-national. So, the essence of this meeting is to work together, develop a framework on how best Benue can domesticate national digital literacy framework and how NITDA can support the government initiative or one-student, one-digital skill and one-computer to ensure that we have access to digital skills and have access to tools that can complement what we are training those youth and the student for in Benue State.”
Mr. Gbande stressed the need for learners to have devices for practical use, saying: “When we talk about digital skills, digital skills alone will not give you anything. I’ve trained you but you don’t have a smartphone to use for your digital marketing. You don’t have a computer to practice your software. It doesn’t help. So, the digital tools that you need to practice, we are saying as we are training you, we’ll be giving you one smart tool that you can use,” he explained to journalists.
Regarding how soon it would be to establish in all 23 LGAs digital hubs, he noted that the process will be in phases.
“We think from now to two years, we should be able to cover 23 local government areas. But we are piloting with the first 15, which the process is already on. These are part of the collaboration we are doing with NITDA, because the Benue state government, under the leadership of His Excellency Rev. Fr Hyacinth Alia, has actually proven to them that, yes, this government is ready to transform Benue state to a digital state,” he said.
Representing NITDA Director-General Kashifu Inuwa, Deputy Director of IT Infrastructure Solutions at the Agency, Mr. Lawrence Dirisu, stated that Nigeria’s economy is at a crossroads and must diversify.
He pointed out that digital infrastructure is key and that the digital economy contributed 17.89% to the country’s GDP in Q1 2024.
“Creating opportunities demands a multi-stakeholder approach,” he said, while affirming NITDA’s commitment to enabling collaboration through supportive ecosystems, capacity-building, and innovation hubs.
Dirisu emphasized the importance of innovation hubs, funding access, and regulations that promote entrepreneurship. “We want to achieve the cascade of our program for 2024-2027 and one of them is a digital literacy. And that digital literacy will develop a framework in conjunction with key stakeholders and we are now at the implementation stage. We have a memorandum of understanding with the Benue State government through the Benue digital infrastructure company and that is why we are here to cascade the programs that we are implementing.”
He confirmed that counterpart funding mechanisms are in place, adding that Benue State has shown so much commitment and interest in the projects more than some other states, hence NITDA’s partnership. “Yes, the MOU involves a lot. We have intervention programs. Some of those intervention programs is building of digital literacy and capacity building centres…We have done more than 50 projects with the Benue state government. But this is the first time we are collecting all those things together and we want to put them into use and proper utilization.”
Also speaking, Hon. Kennedy Angbo, member representing Otukpo/Apa constituency at the Benue State House of Assembly and Chairman, House Committee on ICT and Digital Economy, affirmed legislative backing was in the works.
“In no time, I think that in the next two weeks, we should be laying that law for its initial reading. Hopefully, we should also expedite the process for a second reading and then transmit that back to the stakeholders for a robust engagement to give us a final draft of the law, now they enable ICT and its economy to thrive in Benue State,” Angbo said.
Fielding questions from journalists on recent concerns that two agencies, BIDC and Benue State Digital Infrastructure Services Management Enforcement Agency (BENDISMEA), do not have any legal backing, Angbo acknowledged the current concerns, noting: “If you know the two agencies were created in just about a year ago, in fact, the ministry itself was just created two years ago… These laws will be multiple laws, it will be more than just three laws, because the law itself is different, and then even the guidelines and the framework for practitioners… BDIC is a [limited] liability company… That’s different. The law will be different from BENDISMEA law…because BENDISMEA is an enforcement agency.”
Earlier in her welcome remarks, Covering Permanent Secretary of the Benue State Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, Mrs. Ngufan Finbarr, described the stakeholder engagement as a product of the institutional partnership with BDIC. She said, “BDIC was approved by the State Executive Council and registered in 2024 as a Special Purpose Vehicle to drive ICT investment, digital access, and public sector innovation across all levels of government.”
She highlighted BDIC’s achievements, including deployment of over ten digital platforms, laying of fibre-optic cables, and training of 4,800 civil servants with a target of 40,000 in two years. “Every learner in Benue will be empowered with a digital device and at least one market-ready skill,” she added, noting plans to create 100,000 digital jobs and build a local hardware assembly plant.
During a panel on digital literacy and skills development, Prof. Nicholas Ada, former minister of State on Education and deputy vice-chancellor, Benue State University, Makurdi now Rev. Fr Moses Orshio Adasu University Makurdi (MOAUM), criticized poor rural reach of ICT programs. “First of all, I lament as a teacher. We have policies in this country in whatever field we want to talk about. But the critical issue is the implementation gap between policy formulation and policy implementation. Beautiful policies but implementation, zero. I listened to addresses by those who made the addresses here. Beautiful. But those addresses end up in Urban areas. Beyond the urban areas, zero, nil,” he stated emphatically.
Other panels at the event explored themes such as infrastructure access, cybersecurity, and the startup ecosystem, highlighting Benue State’s growing momentum towards a digitally inclusive and entrepreneurial future.
