On Tuesday, October 3, 2023, a brother who is a lecturer at the Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education, Owerri, posted a comment on our community’s Whatsapp platform. He said: “Kudos to His Excellency Senator Hope Odidika Uzodinma. In Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education, Owerri, today (October 3) about 2,000 Imo youths who graduated from the Skill-Up Imo Project Cohort 2 (Alvan Learning Center) collected their laptops as promised them by the Governor.” This eye-witness account reinforces the testimonies from Imo people, that Governor Hope Uzodimma has kept his words.

Upon the launch of the Skill-Up Imo Project, the governor promised that those who participated in the programme and graduated would be provided the technologies with which to ply their trade and live their dreams. The governor kept his words when the Cohort 1 set of 5,000 Imo youths graduated and were given working tools. Chhort 2 started thereafter, and upon their graduation last week, the governor did as he said, and today, the story of what the governor has done is everywhere. Across the study centers in the state, beneficiaries and witnesses testify that the governor is doling out the technologies required to do their work.

For those who do not know, the Skill-Up Imo Project is a digital entrepreneurship programme initiated by the Uzodimma administration under the Imo Digital Economy Agenda (IDEA) 2020-2026 policy. The IDEA policy aims at training 300,000 Imo youths in cutting-edge digital skills within five years. With the Cohort 1 and Cohort 2 already completed, 20,000 Imo youths have been trained and equipped already. The programme is aimed at expositing the people to the utilization of digital skills and platforms of the evolving digital economy. The participants are exposed to various programmes that help them to use digital skills to become entrepreneurs in digital economy, whether in the media, commerce, marketing, artificial intelligence, internet of things, coding, etcetera.

In February 2023, it was reported that the digital economy would contribute 30% of global GDP and create 30 million jobs by 2030, and 2030 is just seven years away. According to the Digital Cooperation Organisation (DCO), digital economy captures the value produced by economic activities that use digital technology for the production, distribution and exchange of goods and services, and it is a crucial part of GDP calculation. It identified the internet, computers, mobile devices, and software applications as just a few examples of digital technologies that are used by a variety of sectors to create, process, and transfer data.

Depending on the country, the digital economy’s precise GDP contribution varies, but as the use of digital technology continues to grow, it plays a bigger role in determining the global economic environment. In Malaysia alone, the digital economy stands as one of the country’s foremost economic cornerstones, contributing a substantial 23.2% to the nation’s GDP, or RM348 billion in the year 2021. This contribution is expected to reach 25.5% by the year 2025. The DCO further adds to this statistics, saying that “the digital economy makes up more than 15% of the global GDP and has grown 2.5 times faster over the previous ten years than the GDP of the physical world.”

Deemah AlYahya, Secretary-General of the DCO, expects the digital economy to grow tremendously and contribute 30% to the global GDP and create 30 million jobs by 2030. “The ministers and government representatives of the digital cooperation organisations agreed to launch the DCO 2030 programme to promote common interests and then advocate for advanced cooperation, have regulatory frameworks and business environments, ensure that digital economies inclusiveness, fairness, and trustworthiness,” said AlYahya. She added: “By fostering and facilitating digital cooperation and expanding digital transformation across all sectors, we can unlock the full potential of the global and digital economy. We aspire to achieve 30 by 30 an efficient and ambitious future where the digital economy will contribute 30% to the global GDP and create 30 million jobs. This is dependent heavily on the cooperation and collaboration and cross-border efforts between our member states.”

Despite the humongous opportunities in the digital economy, some naysayers pretend not to understand the magnitude of good the governor has done for Imo people and the economy. They look the other way and pretend not to see the impact of training young minds with cutting-edge digital skills that would enable them to play in the digital economy. In this time and age, skills do not only the tangible, such as carpentry, bead-making, tailoring, make-up, etcetera. While these tangible skills are great, digital literacy and skills are now part of the skills required in this age of the internet, artificial intelligence, and all that.

On July 25, 2023, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said that digital economy in the first quarter of 2023 recorded a growth rate of 10.32% in real terms, year-on-year, and contributed 17.47% to the real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the first quarter of 2023. This is higher than in the same quarter of 2022, in which it represented 16.20% and higher than the preceding quarter in which it represented 16.22%.

Speaking on the relevance of digital skills in this age, Michael Olawale-Cole, President of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), at the ninth edition of the chamber’s Information Communication Technology and Telecommunication (ICTEL) Expo held in Lagos State in July 2023 charged the Federal Government to come up with the right policies and regulations that would enable digital economy to create new possibilities and economic opportunities for businesses and investors. He added that with technology having more relevance in the business world, the sector was fast becoming the fastest-growing sector in the non-oil sector of the Nigerian economy. He noted that ICT has continued to disrupt the practice of agriculture, healthcare, learning, and manufacturing. “We are presently experiencing innovative solutions driven by Artificial Intelligence (AI), Automation, Robotics, and Wearable Technologies,” he said.

As a visionary, Governor Hope Uzodinma has tapped into the abundant opportunities in digital economy by launching the Imo Digital Economy Agenda (IDEA) which has through the Skill-Up Imo Project trained 20,000 Imo youths and provided them with the required technologies, including laptops. A good laptop costs a fortune, and it takes commendable commitment for someone who understands the socio-economic long term benefits to ignore the cost of the trainings and procurement of the technologies to help the Skill-Up Imo Project graduates to maximise their potentials. The laptops will, therefore, afford the beneficiaries the opportunity to play in the digital economy.

The Skill-Up Imo Project has the potential to create young millionaires. The training and subsequent provision of the requisite technologies confirm that the governor is walking his talk on youth empowerment and deepening the Imo economy, like in other areas. The technologies will open the world and the inherent opportunities before them. In fact, the technologies will put the world in their palms and bring the world to their living rooms.

In the end, Imo State is the ultimate winner, as the governor is making concerted efforts to address the challenges of youth unemployment and deepen the economy.

•Hon. Collins Ughalaa KSC, Special Adviser (Public Communications to the Governor.

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