We’re committed to building digital economy through youths- Kwara Governor

The governor of Kwara State, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, on Thursday, said his administration is committed to building digital economy through young people.

Abdulrazaq made this known in Ilorin through the Senior Adviser, Alhaji Sa’adu Salau at the graduation ceremony for the 3MTT Cohort (1) and Launch of Kwara Digital Economy platform.

A statement issued by the Deputy Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mashood Abdulrafiu Agboola, said the ceremony signposts the reality and prosperity of the commitment of the administration to transform Kwara state to a digital economy.

“We all know that this state was regarded as a civil servants state. You know the series of multibillion naira investments we have put in place in the last five years to make sure that we transform from analogue to digital economy. This is because the preponderance of the younger generation, the youth, constitutes a major programme of this government,” said Abdulrazaq.

Abdulrazaq congratulated the participants and appreciated the Digital Economy Minister for giving the state the right support to thrive on the digitalization drive.

“The investment essentially opens Kwara State to a lot of foreign investors in the digital economy and transforms the state from what it used to be to a digitally prepared economy in the global community. We thank Mr. President, and we thank the Honourable Minister for his leadership and support in this regard”, the Governor added, asking the graduates to make the best use of the programme.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Communication, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani, praised the commitment and drive of AbdulRazaq to making the dream of grooming 3 Million Technology Talents (3MTT) across Nigeria a reality in the state.

Represented by the Community Manager for the Initiative, Ibrahim Zulkifuli, the Minister described the support of the state government as “amazingly huge” and commended AbdulRazaq’s partnership in building and transforming effective learners from the project.

The 3MTT training programme is an initiative of the Federal Ministry which the Kwara State first keyed into. After a statewide sensitization and registration, Kwara got more than forty thousand entries early January, thereby enjoying massive commendation from the federal government.

“We have all seen the digital transformation in the state and what the Honourable Minister envisioned is to ensure capacity building for everybody but we could see how it is transforming from Kwara through the support of His Excellency, Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq,” he said.

“The support is very huge and we could not even see it coming. Thank you very much for your support and guidance, Your Excellency.

“Firstly, the Governor deployed the right head for the job, in the person of Special Assistant to the Governor on Digital Innovation and Technology, Hon Ishola Kayode. He is doing an amazing job in the area of sanitation and going to underserved communities in Kwara State. That actually makes Kwara the best when it comes to 3MTT support so far. And then, the Governor is giving resources support like laptops and among support. I must say that no other state is doing that”, the Minister said.

Bosun also said the Ministry has a mission of getting the right skill and building something that is going to transform the state.

“We are going to have a lot of digital transformation when it comes to business innovation. That is why we had a stakeholders’ engagement last month. We have the synergy and collaborative efforts to ensure that everything is going on smoothly and we are going to deploy a business star hub from this initiative”, he added.