Acquiring digital skills leads to digital revolution- Expert

Mr. Adams Paul, the Founder of Oasis ICT Foundation, Abuja, says for Nigeria to experience a digital revolution, Nigerian youths need to acquire digital skills and channel them properly.

Paul, whose foundation is in cyber security training, made this statement on Wednesday during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.

According to him, the future of work is digital, so the private and public sectors need to come together to develop systems to propel the country and its youth forward in the future.

“Data skills are increasingly in high demand in Nigeria as industries and the public sector seek to modernize their operations.

“The time for the brick-and-mortar profession is gone; traditional jobs and ways of working are becoming obsolete without an informal technology-related upgrade.

“The demand for globally relevant skills has not been isolated to the tech industry but has spread to all other sectors of the economy,’’ he said.

Paul said that without a concerted effort across industries in the public and private sector, the country cannot create the ideal environment for young people to become part of the revolution.

He added that there was a need for Nigeria to join the rest of the world in enjoying the industrial revolution by introducing internet skills into its educational curriculum.

“ This means that skills development is no longer the job of large institutions or just a traditional public and private education system.

“Education needs an overhaul in line with the fourth industrial revolution because an industrial revolution cannot be achieved based just on a finite number of years spent at a traditional institution,’’ Paul said.