The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) is partnering the Digital Bridge Institute (DBI), Nigeria’s foremost International Centre of Excellence in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in the area training .
The partnership was cemented when President DBI Prof. Mohammed Ajiya paid a courtesy visit to President Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Comrade Ayuba Wabba at the Pascal Bafyau Labour House Abuja.
Ajiya commended the Wabba-led of the NLC for its efforts at improving the working conditions of Nigeria workers, and also ensuring their training to fit into the emerging world’s of work driven by ICT.
Specifically, the DBI applauded Waba’s leadership quality for placing Nigeria’s name at the global stage following his emergence as the Global President of International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), representing 200 million workers across the world with 332 national affiliates.
Represented by Head, Business Development and Client Services of the institute, Mrs Ngozi Nwoche, the DBI chief said the institute was established in 2004 by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and charged with “building human capacity in the ICT/ Telecommunications sector,” after exponential growth within the sector created a shortage of suitably qualified and trained human resources.
On the capacity of DBI, he said the institute has capacity to train professionals and people from all sectors of the economy and at all cadres and levels.
He said the DBI has operational centers in Abuja, with campuses in Lagos and Kano, as well as two campuses in Enugu and Asaba where work was ongoing.
“In addition to DBI’s mandate to build capacity within the ICT sector, the Institute is also charged with building ICT capacity and digital literacy within all sectors in the nation. Today, DBI is the foremost government-affiliated training and human capacity development organization in ICT in Nigeria, training more than 14,000 participants every year.
“During the 8th Regular meeting of the National Council on Communication and Digital Economy NCCDE) held in Owerri from 27th November to 2nd December 2020, the Council approved that Digital Bridge Institute should be the de facto ICT Training Institute for all Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
“Digital Bridge Institute offers IC3 Digital Literacy Certification, is fully accredited by the Centre for Management Development (CMD) and is a leading ICDL Accredited Training and Testing Centre in Nigeria,” he said.
Responding, Comrade Wabba commended the DBI leadership for the visit and foresight in believing that the NLC and the Nigerian workers were very relevant on the issue of national development and growth.
The NLC president stated that “access to ICT in Nigeria is still limited as people are not fully aware of the need to acquire the required skills for the fast emerging world of work”.
He added that there are a lot of job opportunities but unfortunately, the required skills are not there for majority of Nigerians.
Wabba said a committee, comprising experts from the DBI and the NLC would be set up immediately to design the best training modules for the leadership of the congress and also the affiliate unions.
Also speaking, the NLC Acting General Secretary, Comrade Ismail Bello, said: “It is heart warming that DBI is present in the six geo-political zones. Two years ago, we set up an in-house Future of Work Group in that area and we have been brainstorming, if not for the setback we have with COVID. The Congress president has been keen in empowering our affiliates and ensuring that we embrace the digital platform in our training, in our meetings, and to be ICT driven.
“First, we want to upgrade our infrastructure to be able to build the capacity of our people, and we are already thinking on how do we look at bigger states like Kano, like Lagos as hubs for training to ensure that all our affiliates have that opportunity. So, I think it is something that our people will find very useful.”
