The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NLEFUND) has been urged by the National Information Development Agency (NITDA) to take into account short courses on digital skills for students. In a meeting held in Abuja, NITDA’s Director-General, Mr Kashifu Inuwa, emphasized on the need to equip students with digital skills, which will enable them to keep up with the trends of the digital society. According to Inuwa, digital skills are becoming increasingly important for students, given the shift towards skills acquisition from paper qualifications.
The NELFUND team, led by its Executive Secretary, Mr Akintunde Sawyer, visited NITDA to learn, collaborate, and present a demo of its portal to NITDA for input. NELFUND is responsible for administering the student loan initiative program and aims to provide interest-free loans to eligible students. The initiative’s mission is to revolutionize higher education accessibility in Nigeria by enabling as many people as possible to obtain tertiary education and refund payment after their one-year mandatory National Youth Service Corps program.
Inuwa expressed his belief that digital skills would empower citizens with globally in-demand skills, making Nigeria a hotspot for brain export. He noted that no institution could succeed in isolation and emphasized the need for higher institutions, corporate organizations, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and the government to work collaboratively to build the ecosystem. Inuwa acknowledged that higher institutions of learning produce human capital and hence need to be worked with closely to understand the skills in demand.
Corporate organizations, on the other hand, absorb the human capital by employing them or buying products from entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs can be students, dropouts, or anyone with an idea that meets a need. Any gap between the institution and corporate organizations could make it difficult to place graduates into jobs, as most graduates cannot fit into the private sector unless they undergo these short courses.
Inuwa suggested that venture capitalists should be encouraged to invest, considering that Nigeria’s technology ecosystem attracts more than 30% of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), with 70% of that investment coming from the United States. He added that the agency would set up seed funding for startups that could encourage indigenous venture capitalists.
The NITDA boss also commended the work put into the development of the NELFUND portal, suggesting that it should be made mobile-friendly for easy accessibility. He recalled that the agency was working with the Federal Ministry of Education to review the curriculum of tertiary institutions to meet the demands of the ecosystem. Finally, he assured NELFUND of the agency’s commitment by giving it the necessary support to achieve its mandate.
