Gov. AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara has called on IT experts to develop home-grown technological solutions to local problems.
AbdulRazak made the call when he joined a government-backed virtual digital training for youths on Saturday in Ilorin.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that about 3,195 young people were involved in the digital training.
The training was supported by the “Grow with Google and Wootlab Foundation”.
The governor said that the lockdown, arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, has confirmed that the country must come to term with deploying technology in all facets of life, including in agriculture, manufacturing, and education.
He said the gradual resort to virtual meetings and online lectures for school children was a pointer to a future with decreased physical activities.
AbdulRazak, therefore, charged experts to develop IT solutions to make life better for the people.
“Going to two months now, our civil servants have been at home and that shows that the physical aspect of getting up to go to work is gone.
“Work is going on and government activities are moving.
“Our schools have been shut but we can see that many of the students are doing online learning,’’ he said.
Although some people complained of lack of data to get involved in online learning, the governor said “when we keep talking among ourselves we will find solutions to that’’.
According to the governor, there is a need to find solutions like live streaming and offline training.
“It doesn’t have to be physical training in school; eventually we would come to a solution.
“The future is bright, it is just for us to plan ahead and know what we want to do; what we are going to do; what our targets are and create a new environment for technology.’’
According to him, those that will go to farm will farm, those that will do manufacturing will manufacture and those that will do IT, will do it.
“There should be synergy within all of them in order to see how you would get the farmers’ produce to the market and those involved in agro processing.
“The civil servants should be able to work properly from home, using the available technology tools.
“That is why we are here; we will want to invest in what you do and partner with you.
“The government is ready and our doors are open to partner with you to put Kwara on the map of technology in Nigeria, in Africa and the world,’’ he said.
AbdulRazaq advised participants to stay focused on the programme, saying “don’t dropout.
“If you don’t understand something stay on to it; latch on to it; do not drop out and we will create more opportunities as time goes by.
“I notice that we have at least 32 people joining this conversation now, it’s a great thing.
“I am delighted and I wish you all the best in your training.’’ (NAN)
