By Nnamdi Ojiego

The Managing Director of New Horizons Systems Solutions Limited, Tim Akano has advocated that one of the best ways to fight poverty and solve the problem of unemployment in Nigeria is through Information and Communications Technology, ICT, empowerment.

According to him, there is money in IT market but Nigeria is only a fringe participant in that market because of lack of insufficient IT skills and empowerment. “If we must solve the problem of unemployment and poverty, it must be through ICT empowerment”, he disclosed.

Mr Akano who spoke during the commissioning of the Nigerian Air Force Officers’ Wives Association, NAFOWA, Information Communication Technology, lCT, Training Centre in partnership with the New Horizons said the alliance was to move the country forward.

“Alliance is one of the best ways countries are making progress. NAFOWA is bringing some special competencies and skills that we don’t have. So we are combining our resources together to move the country forward”, he said stating that what NAFOWA and New Horizons did was to champion the course of knowledge economy in the country.

He also disclosed that Nigeria is lagging behind in the area of ICT training and skills, saying that the country has a lot of ground to cover and called on the government to invest in the ICT market as a panacea to unemployment in the country. While commending NAFOWA for providing a platform for ICT empowerment, the New Horison boss assured that there would not be any need for anybody that graduated from the centre to travel abroad for any IT training/ certifications as everything was complete in centre.

While commissioning the Centre, the Special Guest of Honour, Air Marshal Mohammed Umar described ICT is a key factor in developing not just a skilled work force but a highly competitive one. According to him, ICT is fast becoming an indispensible facilitator of economic growth and by implication an improved standard of living.

“The development of any nation to its full potential would be near impossible without the society tuning into the digital culture. It is therefore, our responsibility to ensure that our country is not left behind in the emerging digital economy. To this end, we have realized that the development of the human capital to meet the requirements of the digital economy is crucial, and establishing a learning centre of international standards is cardinal to allowing us fulfill our objective; which is to develop a highly literate computer society.”