Nigeria to train 6000 youths in 11 states on digital skills

instructions are reported to the relevant authorities as required by the legislative framework,” Seloane said. He highlighted the importance of ethical leadership in government. “It is imperative to ensure that all instructions to public servants are within the parameters of the law. Through ethical leadership, we will be able to influence a positive culture change and improve the image of the government. Leaders need to demonstrate ethical leadership by making ethical decisions and taking disciplinary actions,” he said. Nonpayment of supplier invoices Seloane urged the national Treasury to take action against national and provincial departments that repeatedly do not pay their suppliers within the stipulated time frame as this has a detrimental effect on businesses. National departments accounted for 481 unpaid invoices with a cost of at least R491 million. “The PSC is concerned with the lack of reporting on the consequences management approach adopted by the National Treasury to deal with the repeat default in departments and provinces. The reality…is that the nonpayment of suppliers…negatively impacts the operations of suppliers, with many becoming bankrupt, and thus being counterproductive to government's job creation problem,” he said. The commissioner said these invoices were mainly from the departments of Public Works and Infrastructure and its property management entity, Water and Sanitation, Mineral Resources and Energy and Home Affairs. “Of concern…is that some departments are still not submitting the required exception reports to the national treasury. Despite this being a compliance requirement, nonsubmission of these reports violates paragraph 4.6 of national treasury instruction note…which stipulates that such information should be submitted within seven days. This shows a serious disregard for accountability in the departments in these departments no measures are in place to deal with this disregard of accountability by departments,” he said. Provincially, the Eastern Cape, Gauteng, North West, Northern Cape and Free State led the way in nonpayment. “Whilst the Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng and North West are known repeat defaulting provinces, the Northern Cape is for the first time showing such a high number of invoices not paid…with the related cost of R 195 109 935,” he said. The PSC said that it has recommended that compliance oversight for payment of suppliers be included in the performance contracts of ministers and MECs. – SAnews

The National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA, is set to train over 6000 Nigerians through its Digital States Initiative in 11 states across the country in commemoration of International Literacy Day. The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Pantami while delivering his keynote address at the virtual opening ceremony of Digital States Initiative to celebrate International Literacy Day with the theme “Literacy for a Digital Nigeria”, stated that the programme is aimed at equipping Nigerian youths with the necessary digital literacy skills that can facilitate Nigeria’s transition to a digital economy. Professor Pantami quoted United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) definition of literacy in 2005 as ‘the ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate and compute using printed materials associated with varying context’. He added that Literacy involves a continuum of learning and enabling individuals achieve his or her goals. He said, “Digital literacy on the other hand refers to those things we need to read, learn and work in a society where communication and access to information is predominantly through digital technologies and innovations like the internet platforms, social media and mobile devices”. The Minister who was represented by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Bitrus Nabasu, noted that the programme seeks to invest in human capital development in preparation for the impact of digitisation and digitalisation of Nigeria. Pantami noted that the international literacy day which is September 8th of every year is to raise awareness and concern for literacy problems that exist within our local communities and globally. He cited the proclamation of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 1966 which was to remind the public of the importance of literacy as a matter of dignity and human right.

While making his remarks, the Director General of NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, explained that digital literacy is a key pillar in the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS), adding that “we have an ambitious target for 95 percent literacy in Nigeria by 2030”. He stated that at NITDA, it was cascaded down to the Agency’s Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan (SRAP 2021-2024) and also the draft National Innovation and Entrepreneurship Policy. This he said will help in building human capacity of Nigerians. “To succeed as a country in our journey to digital economy we need to invest hugely in building the digital capacity of our citizens.” Inuwa added that, building the capacity of the citizen is being taken from two angles; starting from basic which implies that every Nigerian should have the basic skills to use digital tools and benefit from

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