By John Ikani
As part of efforts geared towards equipping young Nigerians with digital skills, the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has commissioned a solar-powered ICT centre at the Kalgo-Gari Government Secondary School in the Daura Local Government Area of Katsina State.
Speaking during the inauguration and handing over ceremonies of the centre to the management of the school on Thursday evening, Nigeria’s Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, said the intervention was to address the deficit suffered by students in ICT.
The Minister explained that the ICT centre is equipped with state-of-the-art computers, projector, printer, photocopier and is powered by a generating set with a backup inverter to ensure stable power supply in order to avert outage.
He added that the facility is also equipped with learning modules through which students can learn online and internationally.
“We have done this in various places and we will continue to do it because this is part of the mandate of the NCDMB. We want to start from when people are young, to catch them young and that is why this facility is put in the middle of the school so that at this level they can grow in the knowledge of computer.
“And to make it sustainable, it’s powered by solar energy along with a standby generator to address the issue of power outage.
“In addition, there’s water supply, there are other educational projects going on to complement the effort of the State Government. Our future is in the hands of young men,” he stated.
Sylva charged the management and staff of the school to encourage the students to use the e-learning tools provided in the facility to boost their knowledge and potential.
What you should know
The NCDMB was established in 2010 by the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act, with a core mandate to manage and grow Nigeria’s local content capacity.
The 10-year strategic roadmap of the Board is hinged on 5 pillars and 4 enablers in which one of the pillars is Technical Capability Development which involves developing critical skills and infrastructure that are required & utilized in the oil and gas industry and other sectors of the nation’s economy.
Commendably, about 60% of the Board’s Human Capacity Development, HCD, budget are reserved for institutional upgrade.
Which is why the latest donation of a solar-powered ICT venter to school in Katsina adds to a long list of other capacity building initiatives undertaken by the Board.
Just recently, the board donated a vocational centre to University of Ibadan as well as partnered Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) and Total Energies Ltd to transform Government Technical College (GTC), Port Harcourt, Rivers State into a center of excellence for the training of craftsmen who will support activities in the oil and gas industry and the wider economy.
The Board had previously upgraded the Government Vocational College, Amoli, Awgu, in Enugu state and completed and handed over the Government Technical College, Abak in Akwa Ibom State, which is considered as a state-of-the-art factory in the production of wood works, furniture, and armoured doors.
