Open Forum #76 Digital Literacy As a Precondition for Achieving Universal a

Summary

The Nigeria Open Forum, organized by the Nigerian Internet Governance Forum, focused on digital literacy as a precondition for achieving universal access, featuring government officials, policy experts, and international stakeholders. Dr. Ibiso Kingsley-George from the Nigerian Communications Commission moderated the session, which included interventions from Senate and House Committee Chairs on ICT and Cyber Security who emphasized Nigeria’s potential as a digital leader given its 250 million population with 70% youth demographic.

Mr. Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, Director General of NITDA (National Information Technology Development Agency), presented Nigeria’s comprehensive Digital Literacy for All initiative, which aims to achieve 95% digital literacy by 2030 and 70% by 2027. The framework includes six competency areas covering device operation, information literacy, content creation, collaboration, safety, and problem-solving. NITDA’s implementation strategy involves three key sectors: informal sector training through NYSC champions who target market women and artisans, formal education curriculum integration from primary to university levels, and public sector capacity building.

International expert Judith Hellerstein emphasized the need for collaborative policy frameworks beyond basic digital access, including cybersecurity policies, data sharing mechanisms, consumer protection laws adapted for the digital era, and infrastructure coordination. She stressed the importance of tracking metrics and enforcement rather than just policy creation. Representatives from Ghana and Liberia’s Internet Governance Forums praised Nigeria’s comprehensive approach as a regional benchmark.

Key challenges identified included bridging the rural-urban digital divide, ensuring affordable device access, and moving from policy formulation to effective implementation. Speakers emphasized the importance of professional teacher development, leveraging social media platforms like TikTok for educational content, and supporting local device manufacturing. The discussion concluded with calls for enhanced collaboration among government agencies, private sector engagement, and continued focus on inclusive access for women, persons with disabilities, and underserved populations to ensure Nigeria’s digital transformation serves as a model for other emerging economies.

Keypoints

## Major Discussion Points:

– **Nigeria’s National Digital Literacy Framework and Implementation Strategy**: NITDA’s comprehensive approach to achieving 95% digital literacy by 2030, including the “Digital Literacy for All” initiative that targets training 50 million Nigerians through collaborative programs with NYSC, formal education curriculum integration, and public sector training.

– **Policy Framework Integration and Multi-Agency Collaboration**: The need for coordinated efforts across government agencies, proper data sharing, enforcement mechanisms, and alignment of digital literacy policies with broader national development goals including cybersecurity, consumer protection, and infrastructure development.

– **Bridging the Rural-Urban Digital Divide**: Strategies to ensure inclusive access focusing on underserved populations including rural communities, women, people with disabilities, and informal sector workers through community-based programs, local language content, and affordable device accessibility.

– **Teacher Development and Educational System Reform**: The critical importance of professional teacher development, integration of digital skills into formal education curricula from elementary through tertiary levels, and collaboration with institutions like Schools of Education and TVET institutes.

– **Regional Collaboration and Scalability**: How Nigeria’s digital literacy model can serve as a blueprint for other West African nations and emerging economies, with emphasis on leveraging social media platforms, community radio, and locally manufactured devices for cost-effective scaling.

## Overall Purpose:

The discussion aimed to examine Nigeria’s digital literacy initiatives as a foundation for achieving universal digital access, exploring how the country’s comprehensive framework could serve as a model for other nations while addressing implementation challenges, policy coordination, and strategies for reaching underserved populations.

## Overall Tone:

The discussion maintained a consistently positive and collaborative tone throughout. Participants demonstrated mutual respect and shared commitment to digital transformation goals. The conversation was highly constructive, with speakers building upon each other’s points rather than challenging them. There was notable enthusiasm about Nigeria’s progress and potential, with international participants expressing admiration for the comprehensive approach. The tone remained professional and solution-oriented, with speakers offering practical recommendations and sharing experiences from their respective expertise areas. The collaborative spirit was evident in the regional participation from Ghana and Liberia, emphasizing West African unity in digital development efforts.

Speakers

**Speakers from the provided list:**

– **Dr. Ibiso Kingsley-George** – Moderator, Nigerian Communications Commission

– **Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi** – Director General (DG) of National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), technocrat with experience in growth management, policy and strategy formulation, IT governance, government relations, talent development, financial regulation and digital transformation

– **Adediji Stanley Olagide** – Honorable, Chairman House Committee on ICT and Cyber Security, represents Oyo State in the House of Representatives of the National Assembly

– **Judith Hellerstein** – Founder and CEO of Hellerstein and Associates, over 30 years of experience in developing policies, regulations, building regulatory capacity, strategy development, broadband build-out, digital government assessment, regulatory reform, competition law, and internet governance issues

– **Yomi Arowosafe** – Secretary, Universal Service Provision Fund, over 26 years of experience in oil and gas and telecommunication, regulatory expert at Nigerian Communications Commission

– **Poncelet Illeleji** – Computer scientist with over 25 years experience, lead of Jokulabs Banju in Gambia, board member of Jokulabs Global Network, consultant for ICT4D, digital learning, Internet governance and health informatics projects in Africa

– **Abdu Karim Oluweidi** – Professor of Wireless Telecommunications, University of Ilona, Nigeria

– **Ebenezer Dari** – Executive Member of the Board of Directors of the Nigerian Internet Registration Association

– **Participant** – Various unidentified participants who made interventions

– **Audience** – Online moderator/facilitator managing online questions and comments

**Additional speakers:**

– **Senator Shwaibu Afolabi Salisu** – Senate Committee Chairman on Cyber Security and ICT

– **Honorable Shola Oye** – Nigerian House of Representatives member

– **Distinguished Senator Dickette Plank** –

– **Honorable Shino Oyedeji** –

– **Mrs. Mary Uduma** –

– **Mr Adesola Akinsanya** –

– **Engr. Kunle Olorundare** –

– **Mr. Ihueze Nwuibilor** –

– **Mr. Kedja** – Representative from Ghana Internet Governance Forum

– **Liberian IGF Representative** – Representative from Liberian Internet Governance Forum

– **Ghana IGF Representative** –

– **Bemisola** – Fellow of the Nigerian School on Internet Governance (online participant)

– **Akimbo** – Vice President of Internet Society, Chief Executive of DNS Africa (online participant)

– **Tino Ade** – Fellow of Nigerian School on Internet Governance (online participant)

# Nigeria Open Forum: Digital Literacy as a Precondition for Universal Access

## Discussion Summary

### Introduction and Context

The Nigeria Open Forum, organised by the Nigerian Internet Governance Forum, brought together government officials, policy experts, and international stakeholders to examine digital literacy as a prerequisite for universal digital access. Dr. Ibiso Kingsley-George from the Nigerian Communications Commission moderated the session, which featured interventions from Senate and House Committee Chairs on ICT and Cyber Security who emphasized Nigeria’s potential as a digital leader, given its population of 250 million with 70% comprising youth demographics.

The session experienced some technical difficulties and time constraints that affected certain interventions, with some speakers’ contributions being cut short due to audio issues and scheduling limitations.

### Nigeria’s National Digital Literacy Framework

Mr. Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), presented Nigeria’s Digital Literacy for All initiative, targeting 95% digital literacy by 2030 and 70% by 2027. The framework encompasses six competency areas: device operation, information literacy, content creation, collaboration, safety, and problem-solving, with 23 individual competencies.

NITDA’s implementation strategy employs a “three-bucket approach” across different sectors:

– **Informal sector training**: Utilizing NYSC (National Youth Service Corps) champions to target market women, artisans, and other informal sector workers, aiming to reach 30 million Nigerians over three years

– **Formal education**: Focusing on curriculum integration from primary through university levels, including collaboration with Cisco for university programs

– **Public sector**: Concentrating on capacity building for government employees, working with the Head of Public Service Commission

Abdullahi noted that digital transformation aligns with Nigeria’s economic diversification agenda and supports the Renewed Hope priorities. He emphasized that Africa can position itself as a global talent exporter due to its young, digitally native population, while other regions face aging demographics. He observed that “technology or AI or any technology we think of will replace us as a human. But it will replace the skills we have and the processes we follow to do our work today. So therefore we need to learn, relearn and unlearn how we do things before.”

### International Policy Perspectives

Judith Hellerstein, founder and CEO of Hellerstein and Associates, brought over 30 years of experience in policy development to the discussion. She emphasized the need for comprehensive policy frameworks extending beyond basic digital access, including cybersecurity policies, data sharing mechanisms, consumer protection laws, and infrastructure development strategies.

Hellerstein stressed the importance of tracking metrics and enforcement mechanisms rather than merely creating policy documents. She referenced the Digital Protection Act and highlighted cyberbullying as a significant problem in schools that requires policy attention. Her recommendations included implementing subsidy programs for affordable devices and ensuring that educational curriculum changes begin early in elementary school and build through all educational levels, including trade schools and TVET programs.

She advocated for open regulatory frameworks with affordable licensing schemes to enable different types of networks and infrastructure sharing arrangements, emphasizing the importance of avoiding negative international associations while building digital trust and credibility.

### Regional Participation and Collaboration

Representatives from Ghana and Liberia’s Internet Governance Forums participated in the discussion. The Ghana IGF representative inquired about strategies for energizing youth participation in digital literacy conversations and providing them with basic tools to begin their digital journey. The Liberian IGF representative contributed perspectives on cross-border collaboration and shared challenges facing West African nations in digital transformation efforts.

### Educational Integration and Teacher Development

Oluyomi Arawu-Shafer, Secretary of the Universal Service Provision Fund, emphasized that digital literacy initiatives should focus on tiered approaches building foundational skills through community-based programs, including computer laboratories and emerging technology centers. He stressed the importance of internship programs, job placement initiatives, and innovation hubs including hackathons and boot camps for youth digital economy readiness.

Poncelet Illeleji, a computer scientist leading Jokulabs Banju in Gambia, made significant contributions regarding teacher development. He argued that professional teacher development represents the crucial foundation for successful digital literacy implementation, requiring specific programs involving Schools of Education and TVET institutes to address the rural-urban digital divide. He referenced “the late Professor Kwasi” who cautioned that one should “torture the data and it will confess to anything,” emphasizing the need for genuine metrics in policy evaluation.

Illeleji recommended adopting the UNESCO ICT competency framework for teachers based on open educational resources and working with technology communities to manufacture low-cost devices locally.

### Digital Engagement and Social Media Platforms

Illeleji presented striking data about existing digital engagement in Nigeria: 37 million Nigerians actively use TikTok (approximately 15% of the population), while the entire West African region has about 41 million TikTok users. This data challenged assumptions about digital literacy deficits, demonstrating substantial digital engagement already exists within the population.

This led to discussions about leveraging existing digital behaviors for educational purposes, with Illeleji advocating for using social media platforms like TikTok to deliver educational content. He also emphasized that traditional media channels, particularly community radios, remain powerful tools for reaching populations with digital literacy programs.

### Addressing Digital Divides and Implementation Challenges

Adedeji Stanley-Olajide, Chairman of the House Committee on ICT and Cyber Security, highlighted the wide digital divide existing in Nigeria and across Africa, requiring targeted interventions for underserved populations. Multiple speakers emphasized the need for inclusive access for rural populations, women, people with disabilities, and underserved youth.

Online participants raised concerns about device accessibility and closing the device gap, particularly given cost barriers and Nigeria’s limited domestic device production capacity. The discussion revealed the tension between digital literacy aspirations and practical barriers preventing citizens from accessing necessary tools for digital participation.

### Domain Name Integration and Digital Infrastructure

Ebenezer Dari, Executive Member of the Board of Directors of the Nigerian Internet Registration Association, introduced perspectives on integrating domain name sector collaboration with digital literacy promotion. He suggested enforcing .ng domain usage for businesses conducting government work, mentioning collaboration with the CAC (Corporate Affairs Commission) as a mechanism for promoting digital literacy across sectors.

### Key Challenges and Unresolved Questions

Several critical implementation questions emerged from the discussion:

**Measurement and Accountability**: Online participant Tino Ade, a fellow of the Nigerian School on Internet Governance, emphasized that “what gets measured is what gets done,” highlighting the gap between policy formulation and effective implementation.

**Funding and Sustainability**: Specific funding mechanisms and budget allocations for scaling digital literacy initiatives require further development, particularly regarding the sustainability of volunteer-based models like the NYSC champion approach.

**Inter-agency Coordination**: Detailed coordination mechanisms between multiple government agencies need further development to avoid duplication and ensure effective collaboration.

**Device Accessibility**: The challenge of making devices affordable and accessible remains significant, with various approaches suggested including subsidy programs and local manufacturing partnerships.

### Statistical Context

During the discussion, a Senator mentioned that “Out of every ten FinTech from Africa, seven are from Nigeria,” illustrating Nigeria’s existing digital economy presence, though this was presented as a general observation rather than verified statistical data.

### Conclusion

The forum demonstrated stakeholder alignment on strategic priorities while acknowledging significant implementation challenges. The discussion evolved from policy presentations to examination of practical implementation requirements, emphasizing the need to move from policy documentation to measurable outcomes with inclusive approaches that reach underserved populations.

The integration of international best practices with locally adapted solutions, combined with recognition of existing digital engagement among Nigerian youth, provides a foundation for program development. However, success will depend on addressing the identified challenges around measurement, coordination, funding, and device accessibility while building on Nigeria’s demographic advantages and existing digital behaviors.

Dr. Ibiso Kingsley-George: Good morning everyone and welcome to the Nigeria Open Forum organized by the Nigeria Internet Governance Forum. On behalf of the Nigerian Internet Governance Forum, I will be moderating this session on digital literacy as a precondition for achieving universal access. My name is Dr. Ibiso Kingsley-George from the Nigerian Communications Commission. With me today we will have the DG Nitida, Mr. Kashifu Inua Abdullahi to make a lead presentation, after which he will give some interventions and the rest of the panelists will also make comments. Before we commence, we have some dignitaries with us. We have here with us the Senate Committee Chairman on Cyber Security and ICT, Senator Shwaibu Afolabi Salisu. He will make an intervention and we also have the House Committee Chair on ICT and Cyber Security, Honorable Adediji Stanley Olagide. We would like them to just give us some encouragement before we proceed with the session. Thank you.

Participant: Good morning all. I am extremely delighted to be here and to convey the goodwill and best wishes of the Nigerian Senate Committee on ICT and Cyber Security. It is particularly interesting that we are talking about digital literacy as a precondition for Universal AU and DER. This topic is relevant and that the Father of Nigeria discussing this at a UN global event on IGF even makes it more interesting. For so long, Nigeria has been known for our national resources, after all, our oil powers, the global economy. But in recent times, Nigeria is also known for the skills and expertise of its citizens. We gave the world something to share about in terms of our movies. Out of every ten FinTech from Africa, seven are from Nigeria. And our financial institutions are all over, not just Africa but globally. Now we are talking about digital literacy, we are talking about digital economy. We are a country of over 250 million people, 70% of which are youth. This puts us in an advantaged position to leverage the powers of technology, not only for development of our country but also to be a leading member of the international community. Therefore, I would like to encourage us to have these conversations and also recognize that much as the government is putting together a number of initiatives for digital literacy, we need to also get the private sector to come with initiatives that will leverage our local languages.

Dr. Ibiso Kingsley-George: Thank you very much, Distinguished Senator. We will now have an intervention from the Chairman, House Committee on Cyber Security, ICT and Cyber Security, sorry, Honorable Adedeji Stanley-Olajide. Thank you.

Adediji Stanley Olagide: Very good morning to you all. I remain Honorable Adedeji Stanley-Olajide. I represent Oyo State in the House of Representatives of the National Assembly. I bring you warm greetings. I think when we’re talking about digital literacy, it’s all about how do we bring technology close and close the gap. The digital divide in Nigeria, it’s so wide, and all across Africa actually is not only Nigeria. So how do we bridge this gap? And I believe with the discourse that we’re having in this forum, we can’t do just that. We understand technology is here to stay. Nigeria has adopted technology. We’ll continue to do the best we can. We’ll continue to make all the right laws to make sure that all of our citizens, that nobody, because we still have a huge amount of our population living in the rural area, and in order for us to close Munanu, Dr. Neweu Coronaq II, and Emma Sen DES tablet, Trient Warden assure Chole will be joining us for this frakt imaging training program.

Dr. Ibiso Kingsley-George: First I’m going to introduce Nelson and him started in Nigeria. 飄 shift will combine with Babita Laos British Awareness Awareness website. Which will be providing students from different of the Nigerian, of the National Information Technology Development Agency, popularly known as NITDA, to give us his presentation. Mr. Abdullahi is a technocrat with substantial experience in growth management, policy and strategy formulation, IT governance and government relations, talent development, financial regulation and digital transformation. We are clearly going to hear from an expert today on the Digital Literacy for All project, which is a pet project of NITDA. Thank you.

Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi: Okay. Thank you very much and thank you for having me. The Chairman Senate Committee on ICT and Cyber Security, the Chairman House Committee on ICT and Cyber Security, distinguished guests, good morning. In a world where digital is a lifestyle, we can never exaggerate the importance of digital literacy because we all need to develop our digital fluency to navigate the world we live today. So in Nigeria, we started our journey very early to digital literacy. In 2021, we developed our national IT policy and the same year in April, NITDA was established to implement National IT Policy. In 2027, NIDA Act was passed into law, and the policy main objective was to get Nigerians to use IT, because as of 2021, less than 500,000 Nigerians had access to computer, and ICT was contributing less than 0.05% to our GDP. In 2012, a new policy was developed, which is focused more on ICT, not just IT, so that people can start using technology not just for their day-to-day activities, but even to communicate between government officials, government to citizens, and private to government. Then in 2019, a new policy was developed, the National Digital Economy Policy, which was a major shift from just getting people to use technology, but getting people to use technology for economic activities. Then NIDA developed the Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan in 2021, and in 2023, renewed Hope, the Mr. President, on assuming duty, he made it clear that economic diversification and inclusivity are paramount to his administration’s renewed Hope agenda. So the President outlined eight key priorities to achieve this vision, with priority number seven specifically focused on accelerating diversification through industrialization, digitization, creative art, innovation, and manufacturing. These are Mr. President’s Renewed Hope Agenda, the eight points. If you look at them, they all focus on reforming the country. And today we live in a world where every organization is a tech organization. No organization today that do not use IT. And every industry is becoming digital today. Therefore, digital can help Mr. President to achieve the eight point areas. Then the ministry blueprint has five pillars, with knowledge as the first pillar. Because knowledge is the foundation upon which countries build robust and sustainable economy. Then at NIDA, our strategic roadmap and action plan has eight strategic pillars. The first one is to foster digital literacy and cultivate talent. Because digital literacy is something that we must give priority in this era. Everything we do is about digital. Therefore, we need to develop our digital fluency and we need to get all our citizens to be able to use technology safely and responsibly. The second pillar is about building a robust technology research ecosystem, because digital Tracey and talents are quick wins, but for the future, we need to invest in deep tech research. Because according to Conferi, by 2030, there would be 85 million talent deficit globally, which if left unaddressed could result to $8.5 trillion in unrealized annual revenue. So Nigeria and Africa, we can position ourselves as a global talent net exporter, because most of the part of the world are suffering from aging, while we have a very young and digitally native population. Then the third pillar is about promoting inclusive access to digital services and infrastructure. Therefore, this also aligns with Mr. President’s priority on inclusivity. We need to get every Nigerian to have access to digital devices and services. Sorry, that’s the fourth pillar. The third one is on strengthening policy implementation and legal framework, because we need to enable the playing field for our citizens to build both the digital literacy content and digital offerings that will digitize Nigeria. Then we have a pillar also on cybersecurity and digital trust, because as we digitize, we need to also build confidence in our citizens to use the technology. And we have a pillar on nurturing innovative and entrepreneurial ecosystem. After training people, they need to be able to come up with services that will help Nigeria build its own digital offering and achieve our digital sovereignty. Creating an agile workforce and organizational culture that everybody should be able to transform. How can we come up with a job evolution within our organization, within government, that can help people to be ready for the future work? Because we have this fear that technology is going to replace or displace us. But I don’t think technology or AI or any technology we think of will replace us as a human. But it will replace the skills we have and the processes we follow to do our work today. So therefore we need to learn, relearn and unlearn how we do things before. If you want to download the Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan, you can scan the QR code to get it online. Because it is a comprehensive document that helps us to orchestrate our digital journey. So based on the first pillar of our Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan, which focuses on fostering digital literacy and cultivating talent, we developed the National Digital Literacy Framework with an ambitious target of achieving 95% digital literacy by Dr. Ibiso Kingsley-George, Mrs. Mary Uduma, Mr Adesola Akinsanya, Engr. Kunle Olorundare Dr. Ibiso Kingsley-George, Mrs. Mary Uduma, Mr Adesola Akinsanya, Engr. Kunle Olorundare Dr. Ibiso Kingsley-George, Mrs. Mary Uduma, Mr Adesola Akinsanya, Engr. Kunle Olorundare Dr. Ibiso Kingsley-George, Mrs. Mary Uduma, Mr Adesola Akinsanya, Engr. Kunle Olorundare Dr. Ibiso Kingsley-George, Mrs. Mary Uduma, Mr Adesola Akinsanya, Engr. Kunle Olorundare The Digital Literacy Framework has six competency areas and 23 individual competencies. Our target is to build our citizens’ digital fluency on device and software operation and information and data literacy, content creation, collaboration and communication, safety and problem solving. So these competency areas are key for you to use digital literacy or digital services safely and responsibly. And the framework was built based on the DIGICOM Framework, which is an EU digital literacy framework and the UNESCO Digital Literacy Framework. So we use these two frameworks and crafted our own national digital literacy framework based on our need as a country. We have an implementation strategy for the framework, which we call a digital literacy for all. The target is achieving 95% digital literacy level by 2030. Then we have a mid-term target of achieving 70% by 2027. So we are implementing this initiative in three buckets. We’ve done the assessment to know where we are to establish the baseline. The only available report we were able to use to establish that was a report from the World Bank, Data for Better Lives 2021. Based on that report, Nigeria… and Mr Adesola Akinsanya. We have looked at what has been done between 2021 to 2024 and government intervention and we extrapolated that. We have added about six points. Therefore, as of 2024, our baseline was 50%. Then to achieve 70% of the population, at least we need to train 50 million Nigerians to achieve that. Therefore, we have the initiatives in three buckets. The first one is our informal sector, which is the most exclusive in terms of digital literacy. They are the ones that also suffer the most. They are the ones that also suffer the most when it comes to cybersecurity breaches. To achieve that, we came up with a participatory and collaborative framework, which we work with the NYSC. It is a program, a scheme in Nigeria, whereby every graduate does a one-year service. The NYSC has six batches, six streams in a year. It runs across 36 states, 774 local governments in Nigeria. We design an initiative whereby we recruit 80 champions in every stream. If you take in a state, you have 80 times six streams, which will give you 460 champions in a year. When you multiply 460 champions in a year, you get 17,760 champions in a year. We have a target for each champion to have at least two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, ten, 12,000 champions. We have a target of increasing the number of champions every year. We have a target of increasing the number of champions every year. to train two Nigerians on a basic digital literacy, which will give you, at the end of month, our average is for every champion to train 60 Nigerians on a basic digital literacy. And in a year, we have an average target of 600. When you multiply 17,760 by 600, you get 10,600,000 plus in a year. So over a three-year period, we want at least to train 30 million Nigerians on a basic digital literacy. Those champions, they go to marketplaces to train market women, to train motor park workers, artisans. They go to our religious places and meet our senior citizens to train them on basic digital literacy. Then we also have the formal sector, the formal education, where we worked with the Minister of Education. We’ve developed the content for digital literacy and curriculum for primary and secondary school, which has been approved by the Council of Education. Now the next stage is to train our teachers on how to start teaching digital literacy in our formal education. For universities, we have done a pilot with Nassau State University in collaboration with Cisco. Cisco built content for us based on the NDLF and the content has been put online where students can take those courses. They get Cisco certification as well as earn credit units for their degree program. So this has become a general studies in the Nassau State University and we are working

Dr. Ibiso Kingsley-George: Extensive presentation that has actually given us the answers that we require because we wanted to know how can Nigeria’s digital literacy for all model serve as a blueprint for other nations in structuring cost-effective digital literacy initiatives that reach underserved informal populations. And I think what you have done here, you have spoken about a national agenda, a global alignment, proper implementation strategies, collaborative engagement with other agency, robust research, the advantage of a youthful population that you believe that Africa should take advantage of to grow its digital transformation journey, participatory and collaborative framework including the youths in your policymaking and in driving the programs, and revamping the curriculum of formal education by embedding digital literacy, working with the Ministry of Education and its subsidiary agencies, and also working with with the head of the Public Service Commission to ensure that every public servant is digitally literate. Thank you very much, sir. On that note, I’d like to move to policy question two. And Ms. Judith Hellerstein is sitting to my right, is the founder and CEO of Hellerstein and Associates. She has over 30 years of experience in developing policies, regulations, building regulatory capacity, strategy development, broadband build-out, digital government assessment, regulatory reform, competition law, and on internet governance issues. She will be giving us insights because she has worked with various governments and regulatory agencies and has also been a policymaker in the United States. She will be giving us insights and responding to some of the steps that Nigeria has taken and probably giving us insights on other possibilities that we could look at as a country. Thank you. Ms. Judith, you have the floor.

Judith Hellerstein: Thanks so much. And thanks so much to my dear friend, Mary Uduma, who invited me to this panel. So I was given the task to talk about the different policy and regulatory frameworks as well as international collaborations to manage, to ensure affordable and inclusive digital access. So when we first look at the land stream, we need to look at, first of all, are the correct policy frameworks in place? Not only looking at whether there’s a UAS policy, a broadband policy, but we need to look broader. We need to look at, especially with the onset of everything digital, We need to be working collaboratively within the region and with others on cyber security policy and cyber crime issues because we are all one nation. We don’t want Nigeria to be known as the king of spam. We want Nigeria to be known for all those five pillars that they were talking about and all the work you’ve been doing on affordable access. So we need to look at the most important policies on meaningful connectivity. And by that, we mean not only is access affordable, but it’s also what percentage of the population have smart devices and can actually do their work independently. And with that, I love the discussion of the pillars because you wanted it. You were breaking it down between gender, persons with disabilities and other areas so we could track. Many of the problems we find in countries is that while they may have a policy, there’s no enforcement because they don’t have the metrics behind it. So when you’re thinking of what, if you’re looking at a broadband plan and how you’re going to do about it, you should not just focus on the plan aspect, you should focus on how it could be a strategic framework to tie in all those pillars together and then how the objectives could be built in so that you could have metrics to track how well you’re doing so that you could re-steer the country a different way if the metrics are not coming out correctly. But to do that, you need to have the data. And so you have to work with other agencies within the country to get the data to match your objectives. And with that, most of this data is often tracked, like they track how many cell phones and how many other ones that they don’t. and Mr Adesola Akinsanya, Mrs. Mary Uduma, Mr Adesola Akinsanya, Engr. Kunle Olorundare and Mr. Ihueze Nwuibilor, we need to address our connectivity policy, we need to track the affordability, we need to track digital government, we need to track all those different items, digital economy, that make up the digital economy and that we all work together. So some of the frameworks that you may be looking at besides the cyber security ones that you have and the cyber crime, but also a dig ones policy. So basically those are very important because every time there’s roads are being built in rural areas or other areas, we need to lay down fiber. So we need a coordinated effort within all the areas, rural provinces and other local governments in Nigeria that when the roads are being put out for like building roads, or building electricity, fiber is put down. We need, as we’re doing much of the digital government, digital transformation relies upon sharing of data. And while you have a Digital Protection Act, do we have data sharing with each agency and also work with agencies to overcome the cultural issues? You may have a perfect plan on paper, but if it’s not being implemented correctly, if other agencies… are not tracking this information. They say, oh, well, we are doing it differently. We’ve always been doing it this way, and it’s a better way. Well, we need everyone to be working together because if, until we have a collaborative effort, we’re not going to have an easy wheel in doing it. Other policies, consumer protections. When we have the, we had different protections for consumers when we were in a non-broadband world, but a non-digital world. But the problem is many of these same laws that protect the consumers are not brought into the digital era. So besides misinformation and disinformation, cyberbullying is a big problem in the schools. We have a lot of issues of child protection. We have a lot of issues of consumer protection, how consumers are prevented against fraud and against misrepresentation. We also have how the children are protected, not just for online safety, but identity fraud, because children and teens are the most apt for identity fraud, and then they cannot become productive members of society later when they have been hacked and all their identity has been stolen. So they have to be sort of looked at with that eye. So you have to look at so many different areas. Lastly, I want to touch on the regulatory scheme. We need an open regulatory framework. We need to have licensing for open licensing. We need to not only, what we want to get, the goal is to get connectivity in all parts of the country. And to do that, we need to rely on different types of networks, not just mobile networks or fixed networks. But do we have an infrastructure? Do we have spectrum like? and Mr Adesola Akinsanya, Mrs. Mary Uduma, Mr Adesola Akinsanya, Engr. Kunle Olorundare. You can easily get licenses without a high cost, or of no cost, so they can share, so they can cover these areas. And then as they grow, then we look at different licensing frameworks. So those are some of the things that we need to address, and I can be talking on this for a long time, but I’m just giving you certain frameworks that we do need to address on these issues.

Dr. Ibiso Kingsley-George: Thank you so much, Judith. My take from your presentation. Policymaking shouldn’t stop at policymaking. There should be collaboration to drive policymaking, collaboration across government agencies, data sharing, reviewing existing laws to ensure that they cover the digital era. Tracking of efforts to ensure that all stakeholders work together. And then, of course, robust cybersecurity engagement and implementation of cybersecurity policies and laws to protect Nigerians, as well as changing perception that would say that this is the spam capital of the world.

Judith Hellerstein: And I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about the efforts of education in providing ICT training in the schools. We need to change the education curriculum. We need to focus on how do we teach digital literacy. and Mr Adesola Akinsanya. We have a lot of students who are coming from Nigeria. We need to build literacy to kids. And we start, it’s not too late to start in elementary school, but we need to start in elementary, then build it up into the latter school so that we create the background for the students to take later jobs because our engineers are coming from Nigeria. We need to build them up. We need the education to start early. Some people may not go to a traditional tertiary education. They may go to a trade school. They may go to other places, but we need to make sure that in all these academies, we’re building up the digital skills that are necessary for the workforce.

Dr. Ibiso Kingsley-George: Thank you very much, Judith. To take our next intervention would be Mr. Oluyomi Arawu-Shafer, the Secretary, Universal Service Provision Fund. He has over 26 years of experience spanning oil and gas and telecommunication, a seasoned project manager. He has spent the last 18 years serving in various capacities as a regulatory expert at the Nigerian Communications Commission, including universal service and access, licensing, project management, compliance, monitoring and enforcement, consumer affairs, and stakeholder management. He will be responding to the question on what strategies can policymakers adopt to bridge the gap between basic digital literacy and advanced technological skills development, ensuring workforce readiness for the digital economy. As earlier stated by the DG NITDA, there are digital literacy policies and interventions across most of the sectors within the communications industry. One of the things that they have done in NITDA is to try to harness and try to collaborate amongst themselves. Mr. Oluyomi Arawu-Shafer will be sharing insights with his experience at the Universal Service Provision Fund, as well as within the NCC. Thank you.

Yomi Arowosafe: Thank you very much. Distinguished Senator and the Honorable Chair Committee and the DG Nidda distinguished guests and co-panelists. Thank you very much for giving me this opportunity. I’m delighted to present on this issue. And just to go straight, for want of time, to bridge the gap between basic digital literacy and advanced technological skills, policymakers are enjoined to adopt a tiered approach that builds foundational skills through community-based programs. And we have something similar in the Universal Service Provision Fund, which we call for the computer laboratories, like the Digital Nigerian Center, the TIDC, and other computer laboratories. And these are like low-end to help develop and to upscale and to, it can now lead to a program that we have called Emerging Technology Center. So this kind of programs help to upscale and help for workers to develop their readiness for digital economy. Other areas that we can look at is to ensure inclusive access, focusing on rural access, women, people living with a disability, and underserved youth. There should be concerted effort towards looking at policies that will encourage or ensure inclusiveness in these areas that I just mentioned. And at the same time, to integrate digital skills into our formal educational system. Some of our educational system needs to now have some digital skills embedded in the system to encourage people, the students, to have some basic knowledge that will now improve and develop. Dr. Ibiso Kingsley-George, Mrs. Mary Uduma, Mr Adesola Akinsanya, Engr. Kunle Olorundare Dr. Ibiso Kingsley-George, Mrs. Mary Uduma, Mr Adesola Akinsanya, Engr. Kunle Olorundare and Access to Digital Tools will help create a pipeline of digitally competent citizens equipped for the demands of the evolving digital landscape. Then the offer of internship, job placement and co-finance innovation hubs, hackathons and boot camps. These are some kind of engagements that brings up the youthful population to help get them engaged and to help them in the readiness for digital economy. So policies, concerted policies should be put in place in these areas to support the digital economy in this area. So I think at this point, I will just put this.

Dr. Ibiso Kingsley-George: Thank you very much, Mr. Arouf Shafie. On this note, I’d like to go to our next speaker. Just a minute, please. I’d like to go to our next speaker, Mr. Poncilet Ileleji. He is a computer scientist with over 25 years experience. He has been involved with the use of ICT as a tool for sustainable development, both as the lead of Jokulabs Banju in Gambia, and he’s also on the board of Jokulabs Global Network. He has also served as consultant for several projects in Africa, covering areas such as ICT4D, digital learning, Internet governance and health informatics. Today, Mr. Ileleji. would be giving his voice by responding to, by telling us how national digital literacy initiatives can be scaled, can cost-effectively be scaled up while maintaining quality and ensuring measurable impact. Mr. Ileleji, you have the floor. Thank you.

Poncelet Illeleji: Thank you very much, Madam Moderator. Good morning all, all protocols duly observed. If we look at all the presentations today, especially, even the introductions from the Honorable Senator and the Honorable Member of House and the DG Director General, NITDA Director General, everything reflects on policy and you have to move all this policy frameworks into implementation. But it’s one thing the late Professor Kwasi said, he said, torture the data and it will confess to anything. Let us take the Nigerian scenario this way. 37 million Nigerians are on TikTok. That is about 15% of the population. In the whole of West Africa, you have about 41 million people on TikTok. So you can imagine out of that 41 million, 37 million on TikTok in Nigeria, you know, and it just shows what is being done and how the average Nigerian appreciates digital literacy with all the policies being put in place. But to drive these policies being put in place, one of the core essence is professional teachers development. I believe that NIDDA should have to have programs that will directly involve the School of Education and the Tibet Institutes. So modules should be developed for them because at the end of the day, the disparities that exist between rural and urban Nigeria is so large that an average teacher in most parts of Nigeria, in rural Nigeria, might not have the right digital literacy skills to be able to compete on an equal level playing field with a teacher in maybe one of your big cities, Abuja, Lagos, Ibadan, and stuff like that. So it’s very important NIDA has these grassroots initiatives that will be able to take those policies down to the grassroots, focusing on teachers. And with all the policy frameworks you’ve learned from, UNESCO has a very good, UNESCO has the ICT competency framework for teachers based on open educational resources. And this is what that model can be used because they are all open educational resources that NIDA can be able to use to put it on their platform. There will be a learning platform and work with the Ministry of Education to be able to roll out EduTech tools that will help teachers at the training level, at the school of training, and also TVET education. We should also note that when we look at the overall what NIDA is doing in terms of working with various stakeholders in the country, you have by 2027, you want to get 70% of Nigerians to be digitally literate. By 2030, you want to get up to 95%. When you look at all what you’re trying to do, and you look at the African Union Digital Transformation Strategy, Imagine having video content on digital literacy on TikTok. You already know that you get 37 million people following you and more. So we have to be able to use those social media platforms which the youths of Nigeria really follow to put educational content out there. We have to also walk with already existing, because despite my computer science background, I’m still a traditionalist. I believe in the power of community radios. You go around the BBC, they have the BBC house service, for example. You know, digital literacy programs can be rolled out through all these, whether it’s BBC or local community radios, because everybody still likes to listen to a traditional radio. So these are things we can do to improve this setting. And the last word I will say is that most of our hardware are still imported. We have to also look at working with our tech communities to try to see how we can be manufacturing low-cost devices so that the average person can be able to have those devices to access all these resources that will improve their lives in line with our digital transformation strategy of the African Union. Thank you very much.

Dr. Ibiso Kingsley-George: Thank you very much, Mr. Ileleji. He has asked us to move from policy to action. Professional teacher development to reduce rural-urban divide, digital divide. Adoption of the UNESCO ICT competency framework for teachers. Proper alignment. He is happy to note that the Nigerian framework is properly aligned with the African Union framework. The use of social media to push digital literacy trainings as well. And then work with tech communities to promote the manufacture of locally made devices. At this point, we would invite a two-minute intervention from Mr. Kedja from the Ghana Internet Governance Forum. I don’t know if there’s someone from the Liberian Internet Governance Forum here. We also have a speaker from the Liberian Internet Governance Forum. I think I’ll take the Liberian Internet Governance Forum first because he would be responding to how Nigeria’s approach to digital literacy implementation informed global policymaking on sustainable and inclusive digital transformation, particularly in emerging economies. Please, this intervention should be limited to two minutes each. Thank you.

Participant: Okay, thank you so much. And thanks to the senator and then the honorable as well as the DG for the brilliant presentation on Nigeria so far. And for one of the interventions I think I can present right now is the road map the DG presented. I see it’s a very comprehensive road map. In terms of emerging economies, Nigeria is already ahead of every country within the West African region in terms of digital literacy, in terms of issues of digital transformation. For what I see is a more way to and Mr Adesola Akinsanya. We believe that the digital literacy is important to ensure that we do these policies are domesticated. Beyond the normal big cities in Nigeria, we know of the bigger ones of Lagos and Abuja and the rest. We believe that a holistic approach to other cities outside the normal one is also key to this. And I think that to ensure digital literacy, we need to ensure that we have a holistic approach to the digital literacy. And I think the data will help to see what is being targeted in terms of this road map as well is also key to be achieved. So not much to say, we from Liberia are always looking at what countries like Nigeria is doing, because we believe that it has a benchmark in terms of policymaking. So we believe that the digital literacy is important to ensure that we have a holistic approach to the digital literacy. And we believe that the data will help to see what is being targeted in terms of this road map as well is also key to be achieved in due course. So this is my submission for now.

Dr. Ibiso Kingsley-George: Thank you very much, Liberia IGF. We will now have the speaker from Ghana IGF, and he would particularly be amazed by these microphones because wanna strive to reduce your insecurity and control on digital literacy.

Participant: We have got a number of people from Ghana today, many will ask why Ghana is on this platform to speak on Nigerian matters. I’ve always said we are cousins and I will borrow Sally Suw. Thank you to both of you for making time for the day. I’d like to welcome the panel and I’m Lorraine Pratt for having me. We’ve got a lot of questions and these discussions are quite interrelated. Youth. How do we energize the youth to be part of this conversation? This conversation takes different dimensions and shapes and different colors. How do we energize them in terms of even basic tools to get their start? Talking about affordability of the internet and also policy communication. They say in public administration, perception is always seen as the obvious. Many youth perceive that, after all, I get into digital literacy, work readiness. The DJ laid a wonderful foundation. I mean, during the presentation, it captures very comprehensive, but the implementation. I envisage West Africa, where we are powerhouse when it comes to digital literacy, leading the force. We’ve seen the fintech companies in Nigeria, Money Point, Kooda, or Pay. Similarly, we could just bring our energies together. And I’d like to quote also Chinua Achebe, who we all read during our formative years too. He said, God loves ordinary people. That has created many of us. So let’s pull our energies together so that we can just push all this digital literacy conversation forward. Thank you very much.

Dr. Ibiso Kingsley-George: Thank you, Mr. Keja from the Ghana IGF. We will open the floor for another five minutes, both to online participants and our audience in the room. Each intervention, we’re going to take two from the room, and if there’s anyone online, that’s fine. But please, this has to be limited to two minutes each, not above two minutes.

Abdu Karim Oluweidi: Okay. Thank you very much. Dr. Abdu Karim Oluweidi, Professor of Wireless Telecommunications, University of Ilona, Nigeria

Ebenezer Dari: My name is Ebenezer Dari, I’m an Executive Member of the Board of Directors of the Nigerian Internet Registration Association. I was expecting to see how the NIDA digital framework plans to collaborate with the domain name sector. In promoting the digital literacy for Nigerians across all the sectors mentioned by the DG. So I know there’s a conversation going on with the CAC now on how to make sure that every organization, every business is registered as a .ng domain name. But I want it to become a reality beyond just the regular conversation and also enforcing existing businesses, doing existing organizations, doing businesses with the government to make sure that they are on .ng to promote the digital literacy. Thank you very much.

Dr. Ibiso Kingsley-George: Thank you very much for that intervention. We will go online now, please.

Audience: Hello, testing. Okay. All right. Thank you very much, Madam Moderator. So the online has been buzzing ever since we started this session. And as a matter of fact, there are a lot of comments and questions. So first, I will quickly go through the comments for our panelists to listen to and probably maybe react to them. And of course, I’ll go through the questions. Then after that, we’ll give the floor to somebody from online to, you know, to hear himself or herself, depending on how much time we have, probably one person or two persons. Mr. Moderator. All right. Thank you.

Dr. Ibiso Kingsley-George: Mr. Moderator, sorry. Yes. We have only nine minutes. So for online, I think we’ll take only three minutes. Okay. All right. So let me quickly go through the comments.

Audience: Thank you. Bemisola, who is a fellow of the Nigerian School on Internet Governance, made mention of the fact that there is need for us to ensure enforcement while we are implementing. And she also talked about multi-stakeholders approach. Then Akimbo, who doubles as the vice president of Internet Society, that is the chief executive of DNS Africa, noted that the effort, I mean, efforts should be collaborative. Then Tino Ade, who is also a fellow of Nigerian School on and Mrs. Mary Uduma. The first question on Internet Governance says this. I want to quote her because this is quite catchy. What gets measured is what gets done. Tracking performance metrics. Moving from policy on paper to enforcement. That’s what she said. Then there are questions. The second audience member did not say anything. I said I would like to increase the volume today. But because we are running out of time, let me take a snap chic bag to a small bakery to go get aapons and mellows to take to my lectures tonight. Let me share this bond. Thank you, Martha, for the opportunity. And for speaking with us and for engaging people in unstructured settings, such as the market women, out-of-school youth, streets vendors, among others, and improve their digital literacy. And the last question posted online is this. Infrastructure sorted. Literacy education achieved. How do we plan to close the divide of device gap, device gap, especially because of cost of ownership? Annette Bloss. We don’t produce most of these devices. What can be done? So I’m quoting verbatim because I just copied the question. I don’t want to add my own words. Thank you very much, Madam Moderator.

Dr. Ibiso Kingsley-George: Thank you. So Mr. Elilijie and the Speaker from Ghana IGF.

Poncelet Illeleji: I want to respond to the professor that spoke from, I think, University of Illinois. One thing I would like to say is that the majority of the content produced on TikTok, forget content that relates to entertainment or culture. Most of them are educational. And you have a lot of young Nigerians that have created different content. And this is evidence-based from business coaching to learning mathematics. There’s a Nigerian I met some years ago in Hong Kong that teaches foreigners who come to China how to speak Chinese with over one million followers just learning Chinese subscribed. And the conventional wisdom to say today education has involved being a son of a mathematician and knowing how education has evolved, whereby even big tech companies are not looking at first degrees necessary. It’s more about skill sets. And that is what NIDA is trying to do, giving competencies in digital literacy that will have a ripple effect. My last thing I will say on this, during the COVID period in the Gambia, we trained my innovation hub, we trained market women how to use social media to sell their items. People who were selling fish have stopped selling fish conventionally. All they do, they just use even WhatsApp messages to market their products and they are doing very well. So we have to get out of that notion that it’s only the academically Inclined that can be successful. Most of the most successful people today most parts of Africa are from the informal sector and with digital skills you were up there again. Thank you.

Judith Hellerstein: Thank you. Thank you. Mr Elidji very quickly just in 30 seconds, Judith. Yes, and I wanted to answer some of the questions that were paced by our online Viewers as I mentioned in the presentation it is for the The affordable devices are extremely important a lot of the work can be done with the UAS fund in having that support subsidies for affordable devices, but also working with other communities in Nonprofit and others to give affordable devices or affordable Computers or other things doing subsidy programs because that is where you can do it but unless you have the these subsidy programs need to be backed up by data if you could show what the impact of giving away these subsidies and devices to people we can then see how it led to Affordability and how it led to that and then these can thank you.

Dr. Ibiso Kingsley-George: Thank you, Judith. Thank you, Judith. I Don’t know we have just three minutes to close and I think we should actually be summarizing what we have Heard today and I’m going to do that in less than a minute before I do that I’d like to recognize the presence of Honorable Shola Oye from the Nigerian House of Representatives With That I’d like to just state that we’ve had a very robust conversation To this end, I’ll say that the panelists as well as the audience and the online interventions have come from a position of speaking on policy making, policy implementation, robust policy implementation, research, carrying the youths along, ensuring local content through making affordable devices available, and then collaboration amongst agencies and with the different populations of demographics of our population, the women, the people living with disabilities, and all others. Okay, I would like to also would like to recognize the presence of Distinguished Senator Dickette Plank and also Honorable Shino Oyedeji. Thank you very much, sirs, for joining. On that note, I’d like to call it a day and I’d like to say thank you very much to all our panelists.

Agreement points

Multi-tiered approach to digital literacy implementation

Speakers

– Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi
– Yomi Arowosafe

Arguments

The framework implements a three-bucket approach: informal sector training through NYSC champions, formal education curriculum integration, and public sector capacity building

Digital literacy initiatives should focus on tiered approaches building foundational skills through community-based programs like computer laboratories and emerging technology centers

Summary

Both speakers advocate for structured, multi-level approaches to digital literacy that progress from basic to advanced skills through different delivery mechanisms

Topics

Development | Capacity development | Digital access

Integration of digital literacy into formal education systems

Speakers

– Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi
– Yomi Arowosafe
– Judith Hellerstein
– Dr. Ibiso Kingsley-George

Arguments

Digital literacy curriculum has been developed and approved for primary and secondary schools, with next phase focusing on teacher training

Integration of digital skills into formal education creates pipeline of digitally competent citizens for evolving digital economy demands

Educational curriculum changes must start early in elementary school and build up through all levels including trade schools and TVET programs

Revamping formal education curriculum by embedding digital literacy is crucial for systematic change

Summary

All speakers agree that digital literacy must be systematically integrated into formal education from elementary through tertiary levels, including vocational training

Topics

Online education | Development | Capacity development

Focus on inclusive access for underserved populations

Speakers

– Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi
– Yomi Arowosafe
– Adediji Stanley Olagide

Arguments

Community-based approaches using local languages and reaching informal sector workers like market women and artisans are essential

Digital literacy initiatives must focus on inclusive access for rural populations, women, people with disabilities, and underserved youth

The wide digital divide in Nigeria and across Africa requires targeted interventions to reach underserved populations

Summary

Speakers consistently emphasize the need to prioritize underserved populations including rural communities, women, people with disabilities, and informal sector workers

Topics

Development | Digital access | Gender rights online | Rights of persons with disabilities

Teacher training and professional development as critical foundation

Speakers

– Poncelet Illeleji
– Judith Hellerstein

Arguments

Professional teacher development is crucial, requiring programs that involve Schools of Education and TVET institutes to reduce rural-urban digital divide

Educational curriculum changes must start early in elementary school and build up through all levels including trade schools and TVET programs

Summary

Both speakers recognize that effective digital literacy education requires comprehensive teacher training and professional development programs

Topics

Online education | Capacity development | Development

Comprehensive policy frameworks beyond basic broadband access

Speakers

– Judith Hellerstein
– Dr. Ibiso Kingsley-George

Arguments

Comprehensive policy frameworks must include cybersecurity, data governance, consumer protection, and infrastructure sharing policies beyond just broadband policies

Policymaking should not stop at policy creation but must include collaboration, data sharing, and updating existing laws for the digital era

Summary

Both speakers emphasize that effective digital transformation requires comprehensive policy frameworks that go beyond basic connectivity to include cybersecurity, governance, and legal updates

Topics

Legal and regulatory | Cybersecurity | Data governance

Similar viewpoints

Both speakers recognize Africa’s and Nigeria’s demographic advantage with young populations as a strategic asset for global digital leadership and talent export

Speakers

– Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi
– Participant

Arguments

Africa can position itself as a global talent net exporter due to young, digitally native population while other regions face aging demographics

Nigeria’s 250 million population with 70% youth provides an advantaged position to leverage technology for development and international leadership

Topics

Development | Future of work | Economic

Both speakers identify device affordability as a critical barrier and advocate for local solutions and subsidy programs to improve access

Speakers

– Poncelet Illeleji
– Judith Hellerstein

Arguments

Working with tech communities to manufacture low-cost devices locally can improve accessibility for average citizens

Affordable device access is crucial and requires subsidy programs backed by data showing impact on affordability and digital inclusion

Topics

Development | Digital access | Consumer protection

Both speakers emphasize the importance of actively engaging youth through practical programs and involving them in policy development processes

Speakers

– Yomi Arowosafe
– Dr. Ibiso Kingsley-George

Arguments

Internship programs, job placement, and innovation hubs like hackathons and boot camps help prepare youth for digital economy readiness

Participatory and collaborative frameworks including youth in policymaking are essential for driving digital literacy programs

Topics

Future of work | Development | Capacity development

Unexpected consensus

Leveraging social media platforms for educational content delivery

Speakers

– Poncelet Illeleji
– Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi

Arguments

37 million Nigerians are on TikTok (15% of population), demonstrating existing digital engagement that can be leveraged for educational content

Social media platforms like TikTok should be used to deliver educational content given their massive reach among Nigerian youth

Explanation

It’s unexpected that a government official (DG NITDA) would implicitly support using platforms like TikTok for educational purposes, given typical government concerns about social media regulation and control

Topics

Online education | Content policy | Development

Importance of traditional media alongside digital platforms

Speakers

– Poncelet Illeleji

Arguments

Traditional media like community radios remain powerful tools for reaching populations with digital literacy programs

Explanation

In a discussion focused on digital literacy, there’s unexpected consensus on maintaining traditional media channels, showing recognition that digital transformation doesn’t mean abandoning all traditional approaches

Topics

Online education | Development | Cultural diversity

Domain name sector integration with digital literacy

Speakers

– Ebenezer Dari

Arguments

Collaboration with domain name sector and enforcement of .ng domain usage for businesses can promote digital literacy across sectors

Explanation

The connection between domain name usage and digital literacy promotion represents an unexpected technical consensus that wasn’t challenged by other speakers

Topics

Legal and regulatory | Digital identities | Development

Overall assessment

Summary

There is strong consensus among speakers on the need for comprehensive, multi-tiered approaches to digital literacy that integrate formal education, target underserved populations, leverage youth demographics, and require robust policy frameworks with proper implementation mechanisms

Consensus level

High level of consensus with speakers building on each other’s points rather than contradicting them. The implications are positive for Nigeria’s digital literacy agenda as stakeholders appear aligned on key strategies and priorities, suggesting strong potential for coordinated implementation across government agencies, educational institutions, and civil society organizations

Different viewpoints

Primary channels for delivering digital literacy education

Speakers

– Poncelet Illeleji
– Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi

Arguments

Social media platforms like TikTok should be used to deliver educational content given their massive reach among Nigerian youth

The framework implements a three-bucket approach: informal sector training through NYSC champions, formal education curriculum integration, and public sector capacity building

Summary

Illeleji advocates for leveraging existing social media platforms like TikTok (citing 37 million Nigerian users) for educational content delivery, while Abdullahi focuses on structured programs through NYSC champions and formal education systems. Illeleji emphasizes digital-native approaches, while Abdullahi emphasizes systematic institutional approaches.

Topics

Online education | Content policy | Development

Role of traditional vs. digital media in education delivery

Speakers

– Poncelet Illeleji
– Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi

Arguments

Traditional media like community radios remain powerful tools for reaching populations with digital literacy programs

Community-based approaches using local languages and reaching informal sector workers like market women and artisans are essential

Summary

Illeleji advocates for maintaining traditional media channels like community radio alongside digital platforms, while Abdullahi focuses on direct community engagement through NYSC champions without emphasizing traditional media channels.

Topics

Online education | Cultural diversity | Development

Unexpected differences

Emphasis on social media platforms for formal education delivery

Speakers

– Poncelet Illeleji
– Other speakers

Arguments

37 million Nigerians are on TikTok (15% of population), demonstrating existing digital engagement that can be leveraged for educational content

Various structured approaches through formal institutions

Explanation

It’s unexpected that in a formal policy discussion about national digital literacy frameworks, there would be disagreement about leveraging popular social media platforms. Most speakers focused on institutional approaches, while Illeleji uniquely advocated for TikTok as a primary educational delivery channel, which represents a significant departure from traditional educational policy thinking.

Topics

Online education | Content policy | Development

Overall assessment

Summary

The discussion showed remarkably high consensus on goals and principles, with disagreements primarily focused on implementation methods and delivery channels rather than fundamental objectives. Main areas of disagreement centered on whether to prioritize digital-native platforms versus institutional approaches, and the role of traditional media in digital literacy delivery.

Disagreement level

Low to moderate disagreement level with high strategic alignment. The disagreements are constructive and complementary rather than conflicting, suggesting different approaches could be integrated rather than being mutually exclusive. This indicates a mature policy discussion where stakeholders share common vision but offer different tactical approaches, which could strengthen overall implementation through multi-channel strategies.

Partial agreements

Similar viewpoints

Both speakers recognize Africa’s and Nigeria’s demographic advantage with young populations as a strategic asset for global digital leadership and talent export

Speakers

– Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi
– Participant

Arguments

Africa can position itself as a global talent net exporter due to young, digitally native population while other regions face aging demographics

Nigeria’s 250 million population with 70% youth provides an advantaged position to leverage technology for development and international leadership

Topics

Development | Future of work | Economic

Both speakers identify device affordability as a critical barrier and advocate for local solutions and subsidy programs to improve access

Speakers

– Poncelet Illeleji
– Judith Hellerstein

Arguments

Working with tech communities to manufacture low-cost devices locally can improve accessibility for average citizens

Affordable device access is crucial and requires subsidy programs backed by data showing impact on affordability and digital inclusion

Topics

Development | Digital access | Consumer protection

Both speakers emphasize the importance of actively engaging youth through practical programs and involving them in policy development processes

Speakers

– Yomi Arowosafe
– Dr. Ibiso Kingsley-George

Arguments

Internship programs, job placement, and innovation hubs like hackathons and boot camps help prepare youth for digital economy readiness

Participatory and collaborative frameworks including youth in policymaking are essential for driving digital literacy programs

Topics

Future of work | Development | Capacity development

Key takeaways

Nigeria has developed a comprehensive National Digital Literacy Framework targeting 95% digital literacy by 2030 (70% by 2027) with six competency areas and 23 individual competencies

A three-pronged implementation strategy includes: informal sector training through NYSC champions reaching 30 million Nigerians over three years, formal education curriculum integration, and public sector capacity building

Nigeria’s young demographic advantage (70% of 250 million population are youth) positions the country to become a global talent net exporter while other regions face aging populations

Digital literacy initiatives must prioritize inclusive access for underserved populations including rural communities, women, people with disabilities, and informal sector workers

Policy implementation requires comprehensive frameworks beyond broadband policies, including cybersecurity, data governance, consumer protection, and cross-agency collaboration

Professional teacher development and early integration of digital skills in education from elementary through tertiary levels is crucial for sustainable digital transformation

Leveraging existing digital engagement (37 million Nigerians on TikTok) and traditional media like community radio can amplify educational content delivery

Affordable device access through subsidy programs and local manufacturing partnerships is essential for bridging the digital divide

Nigeria’s approach can serve as a benchmark for other West African countries in digital literacy policy development and implementation

Resolutions and action items

NITDA to continue implementing the three-bucket digital literacy strategy with NYSC champions, formal education integration, and public sector training

Ministry of Education to proceed with training teachers on approved digital literacy curriculum for primary and secondary schools

Collaboration with domain name sector to enforce .ng domain usage for businesses doing government work

Development of subsidy programs for affordable devices backed by impact measurement data

Integration of UNESCO ICT competency framework for teachers using open educational resources

Creation of educational content for social media platforms like TikTok to reach youth demographics

Establishment of innovation hubs, hackathons, and boot camps for workforce development

Implementation of performance metrics and tracking systems to measure policy effectiveness

Unresolved issues

Specific funding mechanisms and budget allocations for scaling digital literacy initiatives

Detailed coordination mechanisms between multiple government agencies for policy implementation

Concrete strategies for local device manufacturing and technology production capabilities

Specific enforcement mechanisms for cybersecurity and consumer protection in the digital era

Detailed approaches for reaching the most remote rural populations with limited infrastructure

Integration challenges between different educational levels and institutions

Sustainability of volunteer-based NYSC champion model for long-term implementation

Measurement methodologies for tracking the quality and impact of digital literacy training

Suggested compromises

Balancing formal academic education with skills-based competency development to accommodate different learning paths

Using both traditional media (community radio) and modern platforms (social media) to reach diverse population segments

Implementing tiered licensing frameworks that start with low-cost or no-cost options and scale up as organizations grow

Combining government-led initiatives with private sector partnerships for device accessibility and content development

Integrating international frameworks (EU DIGICOM, UNESCO) with locally adapted Nigerian digital literacy standards

But I don’t think technology or AI or any technology we think of will replace us as a human. But it will replace the skills we have and the processes we follow to do our work today. So therefore we need to learn, relearn and unlearn how we do things before.

Speaker

Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi (DG NITDA)

Reason

This comment reframes the common fear about technology displacement by distinguishing between humans being replaced versus skills being replaced. It introduces a nuanced perspective that shifts focus from fear to adaptation and continuous learning, which is fundamental to digital literacy discussions.

Impact

This insight elevated the conversation from basic digital literacy training to a more sophisticated understanding of workforce transformation. It provided a philosophical foundation that influenced subsequent speakers to discuss skill development, teacher training, and the need for continuous adaptation in their interventions.

37 million Nigerians are on TikTok. That is about 15% of the population. In the whole of West Africa, you have about 41 million people on TikTok… it just shows what is being done and how the average Nigerian appreciates digital literacy with all the policies being put in place.

Speaker

Poncelet Illeleji

Reason

This data point was particularly insightful because it challenged the assumption that Nigerians lack digital engagement. It demonstrated that digital literacy exists organically in the population, suggesting that formal programs should build on existing behaviors rather than starting from scratch.

Impact

This comment shifted the discussion from a deficit model (what Nigerians lack) to an asset-based approach (what Nigerians already do well). It led to concrete suggestions about using social media platforms for educational content and leveraging existing digital behaviors for formal learning programs.

We don’t want Nigeria to be known as the king of spam. We want Nigeria to be known for all those five pillars that they were talking about and all the work you’ve been doing on affordable access.

Speaker

Judith Hellerstein

Reason

This comment was provocative because it directly addressed Nigeria’s international reputation challenges while connecting them to digital literacy initiatives. It highlighted how digital literacy isn’t just about skills but about changing global perceptions and building digital trust.

Impact

This comment introduced the critical dimension of international reputation and cybersecurity into the digital literacy conversation. It influenced the moderator’s summary and reinforced the need for comprehensive cybersecurity policies alongside literacy programs, adding urgency to the implementation discussion.

torture the data and it will confess to anything… But to drive these policies being put in place, one of the core essence is professional teachers development.

Speaker

Poncelet Illeleji

Reason

This comment was thought-provoking because it cautioned against data manipulation while identifying teacher development as the critical bottleneck. It challenged the focus on impressive statistics and redirected attention to the fundamental infrastructure needed for sustainable digital literacy.

Impact

This intervention shifted the conversation from celebrating policy frameworks to examining implementation challenges. It led to deeper discussion about rural-urban divides in teacher capacity and the need for grassroots-level interventions, influencing the moderator to emphasize moving ‘from policy to action.’

What gets measured is what gets done. Tracking performance metrics. Moving from policy on paper to enforcement.

Speaker

Tino Ade (online participant)

Reason

This concise comment captured a fundamental challenge in policy implementation – the gap between policy creation and actual results. It emphasized accountability and measurement as critical success factors.

Impact

Though brief, this comment reinforced the theme of implementation challenges that had been building throughout the discussion. It validated concerns raised by multiple speakers about the need for robust monitoring and evaluation systems, contributing to the overall emphasis on moving beyond policy documents to measurable outcomes.

Overall assessment

These key comments fundamentally shaped the discussion by transforming it from a presentation of Nigeria’s digital literacy policies into a more critical examination of implementation challenges and opportunities. The conversation evolved through three distinct phases: initial policy presentation, international comparative perspectives, and finally practical implementation concerns. The most impactful comments challenged assumptions (about technology displacement and existing digital engagement), introduced reputational considerations, and emphasized the gap between policy and practice. Together, these interventions elevated the discussion from a showcase of Nigeria’s initiatives to a more nuanced dialogue about sustainable digital transformation that other emerging economies could learn from. The comments also successfully shifted focus from top-down policy frameworks to bottom-up implementation strategies, emphasizing teacher development, community engagement, and leveraging existing digital behaviors.

How can NITDA’s digital literacy framework collaborate with the domain name sector to promote digital literacy across all sectors?

Speaker

Ebenezer Dari

Explanation

This addresses the need for comprehensive digital infrastructure development including domain name registration as part of digital literacy initiatives

How do we plan to close the device gap, especially because of cost of ownership, given that Nigeria doesn’t produce most of these devices?

Speaker

Online participant (Annette Bloss)

Explanation

This highlights a critical barrier to digital literacy implementation – the affordability and availability of digital devices for the population

How can we energize the youth to be part of digital literacy conversations and provide them with basic tools to get started?

Speaker

Participant from Ghana IGF

Explanation

This focuses on youth engagement strategies which are crucial given that 70% of Nigeria’s population are youth

What strategies can be used to reach people in unstructured settings such as market women, out-of-school youth, and street vendors to improve their digital literacy?

Speaker

Online participant

Explanation

This addresses the challenge of reaching informal sector populations who are often excluded from traditional digital literacy programs

How can performance metrics be effectively tracked to move from policy on paper to actual enforcement?

Speaker

Online participant (Tino Ade)

Explanation

This emphasizes the need for measurable outcomes and accountability in digital literacy policy implementation

How can Nigeria work with tech communities to manufacture low-cost devices locally?

Speaker

Poncelet Illeleji

Explanation

This addresses the need for local manufacturing capacity to reduce device costs and improve accessibility

How can educational content be effectively delivered through social media platforms like TikTok where 37 million Nigerians are already active?

Speaker

Poncelet Illeleji

Explanation

This explores leveraging existing popular platforms to scale digital literacy education efficiently

How can professional teacher development programs be implemented specifically targeting rural teachers to reduce the rural-urban digital divide?

Speaker

Poncelet Illeleji

Explanation

This addresses the capacity building needs for educators who will implement digital literacy curricula in underserved areas

How can subsidy programs for affordable devices be designed and backed up by data to show measurable impact?

Speaker

Judith Hellerstein

Explanation

This focuses on creating evidence-based approaches to device affordability that can demonstrate return on investment