UNDP Partners Cisco To Advance Digital Skills, Employment Opportunities For Young Nigerians

By Diana Omueza

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Cisco have partnered to increase and strengthen pathways for younger Nigerians to achieve future-ready digital abilities and entry high quality employment alternatives.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) experiences that the initiative was themed, “Strengthening Pathways to Digital Skills and Employment for Young Nigerians”.

It was formalised by a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signing on Friday in Abuja.

The MoU validates the collaboration between UNDP and Cisco below the Nigeria Jubilee Fellows Programme (NJFP), and highlights the function of strategic private-sector partnerships in getting ready younger Nigerians for the way forward for work.

The NJFP is a flagship youth employability initiative of the Federal Government, funded by the European Union (EU) and applied by UNDP.

UNDP Resident Representative, Ms Elsie Attafuah, stated that the partnership would strengthen pathways from studying to incomes by equipping younger Nigerians with related digital abilities, mentorship and sensible expertise wanted for sustainable livelihoods.

Attafuah stated the partnership would construct on the NJFP’s achievements, together with putting almost 35,000 fellows with greater than 11,000 host organisations throughout Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones.

“A young Nigerian’s first opportunity to work can change a life. With relevant skills, mentorship and room to grow, it can also strengthen a business, improve a public service and create opportunities for others.

“That is the promise we come together to advance today. Across Nigeria, young people have talent, ambition and ideas, yet limited experience, access to relevant skills and connections to employers can constrain their prospects.

“Our shared task is to strengthen the journey from learning to earning and from opportunity to lasting livelihoods,” she stated.

She lauded the partnership that made the chance doable, together with the Federal Government, the European Union’s sustained funding, UNDP’s implementation assist, and the dedication of state governments, host organisations, mentors and different NJFP companions.

Attafuah stated that the purpose remained to work along with companions to assist younger Nigerians achieve expertise, construct confidence and contribute to nationwide growth, including that Cisco’s contribution will complement these efforts.

According to her, Cisco’s partnership will complement present office placements by offering coaching in networking, cyber-security, knowledge analytics, synthetic intelligence and entrepreneurship.

“These can boost the confidence of a young person’s first technical assignment; accelerate a young woman’s career and aid a small business with knowledge to protect client information or use data to reach customers,” she stated.

She urged companions to prioritise inclusion, for younger girls, Persons with Disabilities, and youths in underserved communities.

She additionally urged employers, state governments and growth companions to contribute to strengthening the transition from digital coaching to employment.

“The ultimate objective remains to make learning practical and accessible, enabling young Nigerians to apply their knowledge to real-world challenges and contribute to national development,” she stated.

Ms Yolanda San Jose, Head, Green and Digital Economy, European Union Delegation to Nigeria & ECOWAS, stated digital transformation was reshaping agriculture, manufacturing, monetary, healthcare and public administration.

San Jose stated that the transformation was making digital competencies more and more important for Nigeria’s financial competitiveness.

According to her, Nigeria’s future prosperity will rely largely on its capacity to equip younger men and women with the abilities, alternatives and confidence they want to reach quick altering world financial system.

San Jose stated consistent with its dedication to strengthen the hyperlink between schooling and employment, the EU had invested roughly 44 million euros within the NJFP.

She lauded the UNDP and Cisco partnership, including that with continued authorities management, private-sector participation and sustained funding in Nigerian, the NJFP initiative would affect past its preliminary implementation goal.

She reaffirmed the EU’s dedication to NJFP and to initiatives that created significant alternatives for younger Nigerians.

“European Union, under the Global Gateway strategy, remains committed to working alongside Nigeria to build a more competitive, greener, more digital and more inclusive economy,” she stated.

Mr Abdulaziz Saidu, Cisco’s General Manager for Nigeria and Ghana, stated the corporate’s partnership with UNDP would offer entry to internationally recognised digital studying assets to strengthen younger Nigerians’ employability.

Saidu stated Cisco Networking Academy (NetAcad) had already reached multiple million learners in Nigeria, making a basis for increasing entry to abilities more and more required by employers throughout a number of industries.

He stated Cisco would contribute digital studying content material and coaching alternatives valued at greater than 52.7 million {dollars}, with the initiative concentrating on 50,000 learners yearly over the following three years.

“This initiative reflects a shared commitment to unlocking the immense potentials of Nigeria’s youth and prepares them for the future to work,” he stated.

Saidu stated that Cisco was happy to contribute its experience to an initiative that prioritised younger individuals’s potential and related digital studying with sensible expertise {and professional} growth to reinforce Nigeria’s digital and financial development.

Mr Akubo Adegbe, Senior Special Assistant to the Vice-President on Delivery and Coordination, stated digital competencies was changing into important throughout each sector.

He stated that had this made it crucial to arrange younger Nigerians to benefit from rising alternatives in an more and more technology-driven financial system.

Adegbe lauded the partnership, including that it’ll strengthen the federal government’s efforts to increase employment alternatives by equipping younger Nigerians with related abilities and sensible expertise.

“The objective have been really simple, to expand opportunities for young people to build the skills and experience they need to work now and in the future.

“We dread not having people to do the job tomorrow, which is why our objective is to build the skills to work today and in the future,” he stated.

Adegbe stated authorities would proceed working with its companions and put mechanism in place to maintain the NJFP and make sure that collaborations produced measurable outcomes for younger individuals and contribute to constructing a aggressive, digitally enabled Nigerian financial system.

Mrs Rebecca Oyesola and Ms Abiodun Kayode, NJFP alumnae and fellows, counseled the UNDP, Federal Government and EU for the initiative

They described it as a chance to increase employable abilities {and professional} engagement for Nigerian youths.

They stated the partnership would strengthen younger individuals’s entry to related digital competencies, sensible studying and profession growth alternatives, whereas encouraging extra collaboration and sustenance to make sure extra younger Nigerians benefitted.

NAN experiences that by the partnership, Cisco has offered free entry by its NetAcad) platform for as much as 50,000 NJFP Fellows and Alumni on a rolling foundation, facilitated by the Office of the Vice President’s Delivery Unit (OVP-DU). (NAN)

Edited by Ifeyinwa Okonkwo/Kadiri Abdulrahman