Globacom, a leading provider of digital solutions, is strategically positioned to boost the Federal Government’s digitalization agenda. To kickstart this initiative, the company intends to roll out a learning management solution capable of rapidly training a minimum of 100,000 users within a month. Additionally, it plans to establish four innovation hubs nationwide.
The company’s Executive Vice Chairman, Mrs. Bella Disu, revealed these plans during the launch of the Nigerian Digital Economy Report titled “Driving Economic Growth through Digital Transformation,” hosted by GSMA at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja on Thursday.
Mrs. Disu emphasized Nigeria’s ongoing efforts to harness the transformative power of emerging technologies, highlighting Globacom’s commitment to fostering technological advancement within the country.
“We see the current challenges in the sector as a responsibility to be at the forefront of enabling tech advancement. We are at the moment doing two things which key into the Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy’s strategic blueprint. Under the pillar of Knowledge, the ministry is planning to have about 3m technical talents by 2027 and also increase digital literacy,” she said.
“In Glo, we have a Glo learning management solution which can train up to 100,000 users a month on different skill sets from digital marketing and other professional courses some of which we plan to offer as CSR and also on courses covering Python, blockchain, AI, to push digital literacy,” she further explained.
“Under innovation, we plan to have four innovation hubs, with one to be rolled out in Lagos in the fourth quarter of the year, and three to be commissioned by the second quarter of 2025 in PH, Ibadan, and Abuja. We see these hubs as being an eco-system and a catalyst for technological advancement where we have hubs for tech enthusiasts, entrepreneurs, incubators and accelerators to collaborate, thrive and learn”, she added.
Mrs. Disu pointed out that the effects of digitalization were already discernible across several sectors:
“Digital platforms have completely revolutionized the transportation and mobility services sector with ride-hailing companies facilitating hundreds of millions of rides in the last seven years, in e-commerce, the sector has grown significantly with an online user market now about 76.7 million users. We have also seen a huge growth in POS terminals from about 155,000 in 2017 to now 1.8 million in 2023”.
“More Nigerians are going into remote work, and with the right training, they will be able to take up even more lucrative roles in the sector. In entrepreneurship and start-ups, through fintech and content creation and startups, the opportunities are vast,” She highlighted these observations and reaffirmed Globacom’s commitment to further bolstering the sector.
Mrs. Disu praised the political determination and dedication demonstrated by both Dr. Bosun Tijani, the Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, and Dr. Aminu Maida, the Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, in addressing the challenges confronting the telecom sector.
Speaking, Dr. Bosun Tijani emphasized Nigeria’s potential to become a significant player in the global economy due to its large population and abundant resources.
He said, “We can only achieve this by diversifying our economy and enhancing technical efficiency. That’s why there’s a significant focus on digitizing our economy and accelerating development across sectors such as agriculture and mining to enhance education quality, thereby improving learning outcomes and consequently enriching our workforce.
“Additionally, there’s a concerted effort to enhance transportation and infrastructure to provide the necessary backbone for our economy to thrive and benefit our citizens.”