By Prince Osuagwu, Hi-Tech Editor

Imo State governor, Sen Hope Uzodinma would stand tall today and stoutly claim that he has transformed majority of Imo youths into digital natives. This is as about 5,000 youths in Imo State are set to graduate from a digital empowerment programme he put in place to arm the youths with digital knowledge.

Already, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Pantami, is scheduled to attend the event.

The project tagged: SkillUpImo Project, being implemented by the State’s Ministry of Digital Economy & E-government has the aim of equipping the citizens of Imo with top digital skills for the new world ecosystem pivoted on knowledge economy.

The SkillUpImo Project has the target of upskilling, reskilling and training up to 300, 000 Imo youths to acquire the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR) skill-set needed to align with the evolving world.

The initiative is in line with the Imo Digital Economy Agenda (IDEA), which is mapped to last 2022-2026 with the aim of not only making Imo the digital-skills hub of Africa but also curbing unemployment in the state.

In line with the first Pillar of the IDEA anchored on “Digital Literacy and Skills”, the Project has the vision to graduate employable youths to the society as well as youths who are self-employable and productive to the society and the world at large.

Speaking on the planned official graduation ceremony of the 5,000 Imo youths, scheduled to take place today, the State’s Commissioner for Digital Economy and E-Government, Dr. Amadi Chimezie, expressed satisfaction that the programme has started yielding its intended positive results.

According to him, the scheme is poised to addressing one of the critical challenges with respect to youth unemployment, which the country is facing, adding that Imo State has positioned itself to join hands with the Federal Government towards tackling the snag through the State’s digital skill acquisition scheme.

“So, it is gratifying to the State Government that our graduands – who came in with little or no experience in digital technology have been equipped with skills in Digital Marketing, Web and App Development, Content Creation, Basic data analytics, Graphics design, Phone and other digital devices repairs, programming, cyber security, among others and they are now set to graduate to begin to utilize their acquired skills for their personal economic growth and that of the society,” he said.

He also commended the State Governor for his passion for digital empowerment of the youths with the objective of positioning Imo as Africa’s Digital Skills hub, through massive training of Imolites from all walks of life to enable them to obtain digital literacy skills at no cost.

The Commissioner called on all graduating set to make the best use of the skills learnt towards transforming Imo State and by extension, the entire country, into bedrock of technological advancement in Africa.