Ganduje offers 100 youths scholarship at DBI, commends NCC

Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, governor of Kano State, said his administration will offer scholarship to 100 youths in the State to bridge the gap in Information and Communications Technology (ICT).

Gov. Ganduje made this declaration recently at the maiden matriculation ceremony of the Digital Bridge Institute (DBI), National Innovation Diploma programme in Kano, adding that 60 males and 40 females will be the initial beneficiaries.

Ganduje commended the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), led by Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, executive vice chairman (EVC), for considering Kano as one of the centres for this programme.

According to him, the initiative of the NCC resulting in the approval by National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) to make DBI, Kano Campus as an Innovation Enterprise Institute is highly commendable.

He affirmed that the State will take advantage of this as part of efforts to promote ICT diffusion in the State especially in the rural areas across the 44 Local Councils.

On his part, Emir of Kano, Muhammed Sanusi II, appealed to the EVC NCC and the Federal Government at all levels to ensure that there is sufficient investment in ICT infrastructure to promote access to ICT by the youths at the grassroots.

“There is no point getting a Diploma in ICT if the only place you can operate is in the city centre. We need to have more people in the rural areas who can provide ICT services to the rural dwellers to achieve effective results.

“if the present administration is ready to achieve its change mantra, then there is need to also create the enabling environment for ICT investors to come to the rural area because with the way things are going, the government and the informal sector cannot provide jobs for the population of about 170 million Nigerians but with the ICT field it is possible,” the Emir said.

Earlier in his welcome address, the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of NCC, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta said the matriculation of the 24 students into five specialized Information and Communication Technology of the Diploma programme was part of NCC’s efforts to promote the adoption and use of ICT for national development.

Danbatta listed the specialized areas of the Diploma programme to include, software engineering, computer hardware engineering, networking and security, telecommunications and multimedia technology as approved by the National Board for Technical Education NBTE.

He highlighted that the programme was deliberately designed to offer a rich blend of the theoretical knowledge and practice skills to combine classroom work with intensive laboratory and workshop modules which will prepare and equip them for direct entry into related fields of any University in the Country.

“Nigeria is in dire need of ICT skills to solve the myriad of problems facing her agriculture, health, education, security, power and other sectors. This is the only way the country can become a mainstream player in the new digital age,” he said.

The EVC noted that “the matriculation is in furtherance of our mandate to equip Nigerians in different fields of ICT, to which the Institute was granted approval as an Innovative Enterprise Institute by the Federal Ministry of Education and the National Board for Technical Education in 2016 to award National Innovation Diploma and these are the first set of students being matriculated for the 2016/2017 academic calendar”.

He urged the matriculating students to embrace the opportunity of obtaining a certificate in National Innovation Diploma programme seriously as they will be equipped with the required ICT knowledge and skills to perform optimally with their counterparts in other parts of the world.

Dr. Ike Adinde, administrator of DBI, said, the Institute recorded milestones in the last two years with the support of the EVC, adding that “We joined the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) in 2015, becoming one of the six centres of excellence in Africa under the ITU ICT Academy Network”.

“The Institute’s partnership with the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) was expanded during the year as it provided technical assistance to the Board in preparation for the recently concluded computer-based Universal Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME),” Dr Adinde said.