From Awareness to Opportunity: How Digital Literacy Is Helping Nigerian Youth Advance In Their Careers
Did you know that over 70% of Nigeria’s youth are now online, but only a negligible fraction truly understands how to harness digital tools for career success?
According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), as of 2023, Nigeria had over 164 million active internet subscribers, yet digital skill penetration among the youth remains very low.
Digital literacy is key to traversing into the digital world in today’s interconnected landscape. Digital literacy has become the link between awareness, economic potential, and social integration, whether one is deploying it to seek jobs, start a business, or acquire a skill online. It has therefore been helping to transform the lives of Nigerian youth who face unemployment and educational challenges.
What Digital Literacy Is and Its Relevance
Digital literacy is beyond being able to use basic computer skills and access the internet, rather than what many people think. It entails digital communication, critical thinking, online safety, and technology adoption. It concerns the ability to identify, evaluate, produce, and disseminate information over the internet appropriately.
Universally, including in Nigeria, this entails being capable of:
- Learning about coding, graphics design, digital marketing, or artificial intelligence via Google’s free courses, YouTube, Coursera, Udemy, EdX, etc.
- Recognizing cyberattacks, safeguarding data, and practising online safety.
- Creating a personal brand on Instagram, X (Twitter), LinkedIn, and other similar platforms.
- Finding and processing remote job opportunities.
Digital Literacy Leads To Economic Mobility
Economic mobility refers to the ability of an individual, family, or other group to boost (or reduce) their economic status, which is generally determined in terms of income.
Digital literacy is a key to economic mobility, as the digital skills that are acquired and applied lead to improved earning capacity and enhancement of living standards for Gen Z and Millennials, who are digital natives but may lack the right skills necessary to properly use technology for both professional and personal development.
Digital Literacy Leads To Social Integration
Beyond economic mobility, digital literacy also helps the youth to integrate socially by providing platforms through which the government and its services can be accessed. Some of these include civic registrations such as the National Identity Number (NIN), international passport application and renewal, and e-tax payments, as well as participation in important initiatives like the Anchor Borrowers Programme, National Cash Transfer Programme, N-Power, Partnership for Learning for All in Nigeria (PLANE), Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE), the Federal Ministry of Education’s E-Learning platform, and the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP).
Digitally empowered youth can meaningfully contribute to:
- Enhancement of the quality of the national workforce.
- Entrepreneurship and innovation.
- Democratic and civic processes.
In addition, the benefits of a digitally literate generation are more than just an individual youth to the entire country. To achieve this, however, digital literacy should not be perceived as a luxury but as a right, which involves making sure that people with disabilities, girls, and rural communities are not left behind in the digital revolution.
From Awareness to Action
In recent years, there has been a spread of digital awareness initiatives in Nigeria, which are led by federal agencies such as the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy’s 3 Million Technical Talent (3MTT) Programme, the Nigerian Communications Commission’s (NCC) Digital Awareness Programme (DAP) and the National Information Technology Development Agency’s (NITDA) Digital Literacy for All Initiative (DL4ALL). A lot of state-level campaigns for digital inclusion are also being implemented. However, as these campaigns are inadequate to meet the great demand for digital literacy among the youth, civil society is also making its contribution. For instance, through its project titled “The IDI Primary School ICT Support Programme,” the Initiative for Digital Inclusion has collaborated with the Lagos state government-owned Jama-At-Ul Islamiyya Primary School in Lekki, Lagos State, and the Eti-Osa chapter of the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) to:
- Offer free workshops on digital skills to more than 300 pupils.
- Supply educational tools and learning devices.
- Repair essential school ICT learning facilities.
- Train the teachers and SUBEB executives on career-focused digital skills.
Conclusion:
More such initiatives are needed to complement the efforts of the government and ensure that no community is left behind in the digital age.
Concerted efforts are required from governments at all levels (federal, state, and local), non-governmental organizations (NGOs), private sector organizations across industries, IT firms, and tech innovators to intensify efforts to make Nigeria’s digital vision a reality.