The Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami FNCS, FBCS, FIIM has emphasized on the need of coming up with innovative ideas that will promote smart agriculture in Nigeria as a means of diversifying the nation’s economy, highlighting that Nigeria is blessed with a large fertile landmass.
The innovative thinking minister maintained that embracing smart agriculture in Nigeria and enhancing the capacity of farmers digitally will create millions of digital jobs and improve the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).The NEXT LEVEL minister stated that the National Adopted Village for Smart Agriculture (NAVSA) is part of the main policy of the National Digital Economy policy and strategy for a Digital Nigeria launched and unveiled by His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari GCFR.
Dr Pantami stressed that the best way to improve the output in the agricultural sector in Nigeria is through the deployment of emerging technologies. The Honourable Minister said, “today, the whole world is focusing more on skills rather than certificates”. Citing an example with china which has announced the intention of converting 600 universities to skill acquisition centres.
The minister made his position known today while making his remarks virtually in the capacity as the Chief Host during the closing ceremony of the pilot NAVSA programme which took place in Jigawa State. The Host Governor, His Excellency, Governor Mohammed Badaru Abubakar also in attendance virtually appreciated the vision of the Minister for bringing the project to the state and promised to ensure its sustainability.
The Governor also called against beneficiaries selling or underutilizing materials and knowledge given to them to excel in life, maintaining that the state in the last few years has produced a lot of millionaires through rice farming precisely.
The Highlight of the day was the presentation of Smart Devices; Internet Connectivity; Seed Fund; and Certified Seed to the 130 farmers who received training on a series of digital skills.
Source: Mr Yusuf Abubakar, Personal Assistant (New Media) to The Honourable Minister
