By Dr. Agbu Kefas, Governor of Taraba State, Nigeria
As we celebrate International Youth Day and embrace the African Union’s declaration of 2024 as the Year of Education, I wanted to recognise the extraordinary potential of Africa’s youth. Equipping young people with the capacity to harness technology presents an inspiring and long-term solution to our most pressing challenges in the global south. We as political leaders, must ensure that our young generations have the tools they need to thrive.
As Governor of Taraba, a state in the northeast of Nigeria, I am aware of the challenges that our continent is facing: the need to improve our infrastructural capacity across key sectors, the urgent need to tackle climate change and environmental degradation, the importance of seizing our vast agricultural and natural resource potential to create economic and social opportunities for our people.
However, these challenges cannot be addressed without the potential harnessed from technology and digitalization. To tackle the problems before us, we need to direct our focus to empowering young people with digital and tech-based skills. With a universal, digital knowledge empowerment, our future generations can be an active part of Africa’s future and stand ready to develop local and innovative solutions to our most acute problems.
Nigeria boasts the world’s largest youth population with a median age of 18.1, nearly 70% of Nigerians are under 30 and 42% are below 15. It is this population to which we must direct our attention.
As Governor of Taraba State, one of my first acts was to declare free education in all state-owned primary and secondary schools. As a result, school attendance has risen by 34% in primary schools and by 62% in secondary schools. We are also embedding technology in our schools. We introduced the Taraba State Students Identification System (TESIS). By leveraging technology, TESIS records and tracks student attendance to ensure effective class delivery and accountability.
This is an example of how digital innovations can improve our societies. Together with our international partners, we must invest in digital infrastructure, educational technology, and teacher training. By doing so, we can create an environment where digital learning is accessible to all, regardless of socioeconomic status. According to the Global System for Mobile Communications report, in 2022, 84% of people in Sub-Saharan Africa lived in areas with a mobile broadband network but only 25% were using mobile internet services. This disparity between coverage and usage highlights the urgent need to promote digital literacy. Many young people in Africa are not being provided with the know-how to leverage the technological infrastructure around them.
As we look to employ technology to address our challenges, we must prioritize those who will be harnessing it. Moving forward, it’s crucial that every debate surrounding education in Africa considers the importance of digital skills and IT knowledge for our youth. As we pursue efforts to advance digital literacy, we require the support of the international community to bring the latest digital competencies to our continent. Here, in Africa, we must adapt them to the local context and use these innovations to bring solutions that are truly effective for our communities.