Lack of ICT skills remains a major challenge facing African countries in their quest for sustainable development, a government official has said.
The digital world has immense opportunities for the continent's economies, ICT Principal Secretary Jerome Ochieng said.
The remarks were read on his behalf on Tuesday by the Communication Authority of Kenya chairman Ngene Gituku during the opening of the 58th session of African Advanced Level Telecommunications Institute (AFRALTI) governing council in Mombasa.
“Africa needs urgent and concerted efforts to address the skills deficit conundrum if it is to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, Agenda 2063, respective national development strategies and the regions ICT Agenda,” Ochieng said.
Kenya began the journey to bridge the technological gap when it launched the Digital Economic Blueprint that defines the framework for the country with five pillars where digital skills were recognised as a prerequisite, he said.
“AFRALTI whose core mission is capacity building occupies a strategic position in transforming human as well as institutional skills to catapult the continent to greater socio economic advancement,” the PS said.
The PS called on AFRALTI to seize the opportunity to narrow the skills gap in the continent by capacity building ICT practitioners.
