The Bank of Industry (BoI), African Development Bank AfDB and the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) have partnered to drive digital literacy in Nigeria.
The Managing Director, BoI, Olasupo Olusi, who stated this at the bank’s Investment in Digital and Creative Enterprises (iDICE) stakeholders’ forum in Lagos, explained that Nigeria’s youthful population requires a digital and creative sector have continued to further drive productivity in the Nigerian economy.
According to him, the creative and digital economy is central to the economic strategy of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s transformation plan, as the digital and creative sector plays a key role in driving employment creation, reducing poverty and inequality in the polity.
He said, “In recognition of the critical role of the creative sector in economic development, the Bank of Industry in 2011 created a Creative and Digital Group to provide tailor-made financing for projects and the success story has been enormous.”
Also speaking, the Coordinator Jobs for Youth in Africa Strategy, AfDB Group, Tapera Jeffrey Muzira, said the iDICE initiative by the federal government is timely and strategic, explaining that it is transformative as it would build the systems to support more competitive entrepreneurs powered by creativity and digital technologies.
He said the iDICE programme has the potential to generate millions of jobs for young people, stressing that Africa has the youngest population in the world, with more than 400 young people between the age range between 15 and 35 years old.
