The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has launched the 2022 eGovernment Service-Wide Capacity Building Programme as part of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy and the e-Government Master Plan’s implementation through the Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan (SRAP 2021-2024).
The programme is designed to equip public servants with digital skills to enhance their performances under the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
The goal of digital inclusion, according to the agency’s Director-General Kashifu Inuwa, is to ensure that technology or digital skills are brought to rural areas to help diverse economic pursuits, particularly farming.
Inuwa was represented at the event, which took place at Public Service Institute, Kubwa, Abuja, by the Director, Research and Development of NITDA, Dr Agu Collins Agu.
According to him, “technology is dynamic which makes upskilling and reskilling come into play especially for federal public servants that will be driving all government digital transformation”.
Prof. Mohammed Abubakar, Managing Director of Galaxy Backbone Limited and co-Chairman of the e-GTC Governing Board, stated that 10 batches will be trained in 2020 as opposed to 12 in 2019.
“In 2020 the number of public servants trained were 489 and 890 in 2021, the number of effective training days were 26 and 48 in 2020 and 2021. The number of effective training hours were 208 in 2020 and 384 in 2021.
“If you look at the number of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), the centre was able to pitch, there were 25 in 2020 and in 2021 there were 41. The number of Public servants invited in 2020 were 765 and 1,220 in 2021,” Abubakar said.
The Director of eGTC, Prof. Suleiman Mohammed, while presenting the training schedule for the year stated that the Executive Course I was included to train Chief Executive Officers (CEO) of Agencies and Parastatals of the Government.
Prof Mohammed said: “For the Executive Course I, which we are starting in Abuja is targeting the CEOs of Federal Government agencies and parastatals, we intended to have nine batches within the year, two in a month fortnightly, in each batch we will have 20 CEO’s making it a total of 180 CEO’s to be trained.
“We have the Executive Course II which targets public servants at the Directorate cadre and in each batch we are inviting 100 participants and we intend to have 18 batches making a total of 1,800 participants.
“For the professional course which we are having with you now, we are targeting 100 participants and we are planning for 13 batches making it 1,300 participants.
“We started in 2020 and in that year we did little, in 2021 we did much but in 2022 we have become more ambitious as we want to have our tentacles outside the boundaries of Abuja.”
He said the agency will be replicating Executive Course I and Executive II which it has started in Abuja across the six geopolitical zones.
