In furtherance of its commitment to building a resourceful workforce that will amplify the state’s development agenda, Lagos State Government in conjunction with Technology for Social Change and Development Initiative (Tech4Dev), a non-profit social enterprise is set to train 3000 Civil Servants in digital skills.
The initiative which is a State Level Inclusive Digital Transformation Project is designed to advance the digital literacy of civil servants by bridging the digital skill gap and allowing them to carry out more research, run data and proffer solutions to emerging challenges.
While receiving in audience stakeholders in Ministries, Agencies and Departments (MDAs) including officials of the TECH4DEV team recently in her office, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Sustainable Development Goals and Investment, Mrs. Solape Hammond acknowledged that the scheme is essentially aimed towards amplifying the faculty of the state’s workforce to handle e-government infrastructures and add value to the system.
According to her, “As our dependence on the internet and digital communications increases, our workforce must keep up with the evolving skill demand. We need to do more to ensure a greater number of our workers are digitally literate to pursue Governor Sanwo-Olu’s Greater Lagos vision”, she stated.
The Special Adviser pointed out that government institutions need to continuously up-skill their workers to stay on top of the changing digital landscape, adding that the delivery of relevant and applicable digital skills to 3000 Civil Servants in the State is a critical way of enhancing the efficacy, productivity and accountability of the service.
“Given that digital skill is a valuable asset that is relevant to the 21st-century future of work, beneficiaries will have the opportunity to leverage on the acquired skills to sustain government investments and contribute to governmental reforms on upgrading and digitalisation of its services”, she emphasised.
Reeling out the project implementation process the Special Adviser explained that the Lagos State Digital Transformation Project will be implemented by conducting a needs assessment to determine the digital skills level of civil servants in the state before mobilising selected beneficiaries.
While revealing that officers on Grade Level 07 or above who have more than Five years left in service are eligible for selection, Hammond stated that officers whose job function requires the application of basic digital skills in their daily tasks will immensely benefit from the programme.
She revealed that the 16-week project is structured to train participants in batches of 100 in two sessions for a week to achieve the targeted 3000 beneficiaries. She averred that to facilitate an efficient transfer of knowledge, participants must have a minimum of two persons reporting directly to them.
Commending the TECH4DEV team for facilitating the programme, the Special Adviser reiterated that keeping up with technological advancements globally will put the state in good stead towards achieving some of the targets of the sustainable development goals.
While encouraging selected beneficiaries to be available and committed to the training, he maintained that participants who acquire 60% attendance and 70% assessment pass mark during the training will qualify for certification.
Hammond revealed that the learning activity will also involve implementing, monitoring, evaluating and researching, just as she affirmed that participants will be trained in essential Microsoft Productivity suites such as MS Word, PowerPoint and Excel, Creating, Collaborating and Managing Digital Content using MS PowerPoint and One-Drive.
The digital training skill, which is fully funded by the UK government, is aimed at supporting and complementing the States’ Digital Economic Drive as encapsulated in the administration T.H.E.M.E.S. Agenda.
