‘Nigerian Civil Service Need Digital, Media Literacy for 21st Century’

Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja

Former Executive Secretary of  National Universities Commission(NUC), Prof. Peter Okebulola, has urged the federal government to run programmes that will equip Nigerian civil servants with skills on digital literacy, team work, media literacy, curiosity and others needed for the 21st century.

Okebukola made the prescription yesterday at the public service lecture to mark the 2024 civil service week celebration in Abuja, where he was the guest lecturer.

“These skills include problem-solving, curiosity, teamwork, perseverance, ability to work with others,  that relate to teamwork and about 21 other skills. So, the idea is for the federal civil service and other services to run programmes for civil servants on problem-solving, teamwork, digital literacy, media literacy, environmental literacy, to enable them to prepare for that work. So, that is a major recommendation,” Okebukola said.

He said a study showed that there were gaps in the civil service in the area of service delivery, efficiency and use of ICTs, saying civil servants’ capacity to perform will be boosted if they were trained, given the necessary tools and prepared for digital literacy by 2025.

“By 2050 if you don’t plan, you are going nowhere in terms of delivering better on your mandate. This lecture is about painting the scenarios of the future of Nigeria by 2050. Where is the civil service going to be? Where is education going to be? More importantly, how will we educate our civil servants who are the engines of development in a way that they would be well-treated and we put values to attain that beautiful world as it should be in 2050. What will be the skills that are needed? And how will we, through education, give these skills to our civil servants and others to be able to prepare for that world?” he said.