It should be recalled that the book was unveiled on Thursday, 24th of November, 2022 at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja.

Mr. Brad Smith, the President of Microsoft Corporation, wrote the Foreword to the book. Skills Rather than Just Degrees focused on the importance of skills and its potential impact in addressing the problems of unemployability, unemployment and underemployment. 

The book is a research and productive work implementing the paradigm shift advocated by Professor Pantami and is in alignment with the approach being adopted in leading educational and technological countries like the United States of America, Finland and India, amongst other countries.

The book was endorsed and unveiled by the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Professor Abubakar Adamu Rasheed. 

Professor Idris Muhammad Bugaje, Executive Secretary of the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) was one of the personalities that endorsed the book. A number of Vice Chancellors also endorsed and reviewed the book, including Professor M.A. Abdulazeez, Vice Chancellor of the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Professor Owunari Abraham Georgewill, Vice Chancellor of the University of Port-Harcourt and Prof. Sagir Adamu Abbas, Vice Chancellor of Bayero University Kano.

In a bid to boost skilling in Nigeria, Professor Babagana Zulum obtained 10,000 copies of the book for distribution in schools and other institutions in Borno State. 

Senator Hadi Sirika also obtained 2,000 copies for distribution in institutions across the country. 

Dr Femi Adeluyi, Senior Technical Assistant (R&D) to the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, said that both high profile personalities were motivated to do this after reading the book and acknowledging the high quality of the content and its capacity to inspire Nigerians to embrace skills as a catalyst for national transformation. 

“They also encouraged well-meaning Nigerians and institutions for follow their example. It is hoped that other stakeholders will try and circulate the book in their communities.

“The Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, under Professor Pantami’s leadership, remains committed to implementing the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) in order to ensure that Nigeria’s digital economy remains a leading light and support the country to become the talent capital of the continent and also the world,” Dr. Adeluyi said.

This followed the presentation of a memo by Professor Isa Pantami, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy,

Going by the approval, the government is working towards the implementation of strategies to encourage and support the development and growth of more Innovation-Driven Enterprises (IDEs), which have the potential to create millions of additional jobs in the country.

This will also help to develop innovative solutions to societal problems, and rapidly grow, as well as diversify the Nigerian economy, in line with the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) for a Digital Nigeria.

Confirming the development, Dr Femi Adeluyi, Technical Assistant (Research & Development) to the Minister, said that a number of the proposed strategies resulted from recommendations that were made at an interactive forum held on 22nd February 2022, where the Pantami-led Federal Government Delegation on a working visit to the Lagos digital innovation ecosystem.

The delegation included the Director-General of NITDA, the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the Post Master General and the Managing Director of Galaxy Backbone Plc.

“The visit provided a useful platform for open and interactive discussions on the ecosystem’s pertinent challenges and interventions required from the government to enable the ecosystem achieve its full potential. The forum was attended by 143 ICT and Startup Companies.

“The delegation also paid a visit to 3 selected tech startups, namely: Flutterwave (currently valued at US$3 billion), Treepz (with a current funding of US$3.1 million) and Reliance Health (with US$48.3 million in funding).

“It is worthy to that under the able administration of His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, Nigeria became home to 5 of about 8 Unicorns (startup companies valued at over US$1Billion) on the African Continent”.

Furthermore, Nigerian startups attracted about 35% (estimated at US$1.4Billion) of the over US$4Billion raised by African startups, which is the highest raised by any startup ecosystem on the continent. Most importantly, it has created a significant number of jobs.

For instance, Jumia, an e-Commerce company, provides over 3,000 direct jobs according to Jobberman’s 2020 Digital Sector Report.

The report also asserts that the Nigeria’s Digital Economy has the potential to create an average of 1.3million tech-enabled jobs across industries in 5 years (i.e. by 2025).

To further strengthen the ecosystem, the Federal Executive Council approved the following recommendations,  in line with the Executive Order 003 and Presidential Order 005:

1. that the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning and the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) should prioritise the granting of Tax Reliefs and other Incentives such as the Pioneer Status Incentive (PSI) Scheme to the technology and innovation ecosystem;
2. that the Nigerian Copyright Commission, the Trademarks Registry, and the Patents and Designs Registry should work with the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) in developing an Intellectual Property (IP) framework for the technology and innovation ecosystem within two (2) months; and
3. that the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) should work with NITDA to develop a framework that will ensure the involvement of technology innovation startups in government procurement processes to encourage ideation, innovation and design of solutions to solve development challenges within two (2) months.

“The Nigeria Startup Bill (NSB) was earlier approved by the Federal Executive Council and forwarded to the National Assembly and the process is about 90% complete.  The approval of the incentives at the Council will consolidate the gains recorded for far in the NSB process.

“The implementation of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) emphasises the importance of the innovation and startup ecosystem to the development of an indigenous digital economy.

“The Ministry will continue to position Nigeria to develop this ecosystem in order to transform Nigeria into a country with a sustainable and thriving digital economy”.