The regional investment bank said on Monday that more young people and students across Africa and in Nigeria were becoming computer literate, with coding and digital skills training, under its ‘Coding for Employment’ programme.
According to the bank, the programme began in February 2018, when the bank, working with technology firms Facebook, Microsoft and the Rockfeller Foundation, embarked on a plan to launch 130 centres of excellence across Africa, as part of its Coding for Employment initiative.
The report by Nigeria’s Punch newspaper on Tuesday said that with educators and IT experts from the bank, Facebook and Microsoft philanthropies designing the curriculum and Rockefeller Foundation supporting the vision with a $2 million trust fund to equip and operationalise the plan, the centres would correct the mismatch between Africa’s youth skills and employers’ requirements.
The ICT and Youth Development expert at the African Development Bank, Uyoyo Edosio, said it had been an amazing start for the Coding for Employment programme in Nigeria.
“Across the country, we are observing pent-up demand for basic computing capabilities and digital skills. Africa’s youth will drive the digital transformation of African economies in the emerging fourth and fifth industrial era,” the report quoted Edosio as saying.
With the continent’s youth population projected to reach 830 million by 2050, knowledge of advanced technologies, such as cloud computing, data analytics, mobile, security, social networking and artificial intelligence (AI), will become crucial, he said.
“Working with academia, private and public sector institutions, the bank’s technology development programmes and investments support numerous national development plans and align with its high five priorities, especially, integrate Africa, industrialise Africa and improve the quality of life for the people of Africa,” Edosio added.