The Digital Bridge Institute, DBI, and the Borno State Information Technology Development Agency (BICTDA) explore possibilities for collaboration in organizing conferences, workshops, seminars, and training programs in Borno State and explore funded capacity-building and upskilling programs.
The collaboration plan was made known on Tuesday, June 4, 2024, when the Executive Secretary of the BICTDA Engr. Mohammed K. Wanori, FNSE, and his team paid a courtesy/Fact-finding visit to DBI in Abuja to explore and establish potential areas of collaboration that would benefit Borno State.
In his presentation, Engr. Mohammed K. Wanori introduced the newly established Borno Information and Communication Technology Development Agency (BICTDA) and presented its goals and projects, highlighting Governor Baba Gana Umara Zulum’s commitment to digital literacy in Borno State. He said the Governor plans to establish Digital Literacy Centres in all twenty-seven local governments, with four centers already completed and operational.
The BICTDA team therefore requested DBI assistance in several areas such as capacity building, participation in digital literacy programs, policymaking, regulations, licensing, e-government development, and upskilling in in-demand Skill areas of emerging technologies such as AI, Prompt Engineering, Cloud computing, Software Development, Data Analytics amongst others.
Welcoming the BICTDA team was the Acting President/CEO of DBI, Mrs. Viola Askia Usoro who introduced DBI as an Institute as a company Limited by the Guarantee of the Nigerian Communication Commission, specifying the functions, mandate, mission, and vision of the Institute.
Mrs. Viola also described the ADEPTI program of the Institute which trains university lecturers, exam officers, and Heads of Departments of many universities including the University of Maiduguri and Borno State University on record keeping, data handling, and management, data and results analysis, research report analysis, Excel, and SPSS.
According to her “The Institute partners in training and capacity building with Microsoft, ITU, CISCO, GSNA, etc. The training at the institute ranges from basic to advanced levels, covering digital literacy and skills training, Microsoft Office packages, programming, networking, optic fiber training, spectrum management, broadband access and network planning, IT infrastructure Ethernet, LAN and VLAN, intelligent network systems, front and back-end web development, UI/UX design, digital marketing and social media analytics, e-government principles, and implementation, cybersecurity training” she said.
She further highlighted the recent training and upskilling conducted by DBI at the Yola Zonal office in collaboration with the North East Development Commission (NEDC), adding that BICTDA could benefit in curriculum development, digital literacy training, mentoring, identifying potential job placement opportunities for in-demand skills like AI, robotics, cloud computing, gaming, data analytics, and software design and development, and harnessing training offered by the DBI ITU academy.
Also present at the meeting was Mrs. Ngozi Nwoche – Group Head, Learning and Development while other representatives of BICTDA were: Dr. Mohammed I. Yelwa, Chairman Designate Prof. Mustapha A. Tijjani Board Member Designate and Hon. Zanna Ajimi Lawal, Board Member Designate.
Signed:
Akin Ogunlade
Head, Public Affairs Unit
Digital Bridge Institute
June 6th 2024.
