NCC Sponsors 5,135 ICT Administrators' Training, 139 Tertiary Institutions in DBI

By The Citizen
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Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), in pursuance of relevant sub-sections of its mandate, sponsored and monitored a train-the-trainer programme organised by the Digital Bridge Institute (DBI) in 2013.

In the year in perspective, 19 runs of the ADAPTI intervention were organised at 26 selected training centres in the 6 geo-political zones; directly benefitting 5,135 trainees from 139 tertiary institutions.

The training aimed at equipping senior administrators and academics of Universities, Polytechnics, Monotechnics and Colleges of Education with functional skills in Microsoft Word, Excel, Power Point and 'Access to the Internet' for the improvement of productivity in tertiary institutions in the country.

Information made available by the Commission via education/technology innovation unit, Nigeria MDG Information System (NMIS), revealed that management approved the sponsorship of ADAPTI training of 3,000 senior personnel of Nigeria's tertiary institutions by the DBI in 2013.

The training programme commenced on 18th February because of necessary procedural documentation, and concluded on 6th December, 2013.

A total of 5,135 academics and administrators benefited from the programme which means that the exercise was overshot with 2,135 trainees.

The difference stems from the extension of the 2012 training year into the first quarter of 2013.

Since the inception of the training in 2006, the Commission has funded the training of 18,707 senior members of staff of the academia. The ADAPTI training is a popular empowerment tool that excites virtually all its beneficiaries who profusely appreciate the NCC for initiating the scheme.

The NCC financed the programme, provided complementary logistics for the course attendees and closely monitored the conduct of the training to encourage active participation in the programme by trainees for optimal output and outcomes in tertiary institutions.

Each run was executed in five days of intensive training aimed at equipping beneficiaries to be able to: apply the soft skills in their daily work, digitise their lecture notes for ease of enrichment; interact beneficially with fellow academics; and upload their academic publications easily onto the World Wide Web to enhance sharing of knowledge among other things.

The Commission believes that the intervention, Advanced Digital Appreciation Programme for Tertiary Institutions (ADAPTI), will elicit pervasive application of ICT skills in the academia for enhanced staff output, institutional efficiency, student enculturation to e-based learning for sustainable national growth. Feedback from the Post-ADAPTI questionnaire shows a growing number of academic staff of the tertiary institutions now engage their students electronically and some have even started to upload their academic publications onto the World Wide Web to participate in the global platform for knowledge sharing.

It said that in 2014 the implementation of the initiative will be sustained so as to continue to contribute to the attainment of the mandate of the Commission as defined in relevant sub sections of its strategic documents, as well as, the global objectives of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) for optimal propagation of ICT skills and applications by 2015 which Nigeria and indeed, the NCC, a sector member, have undertaken to actualise in the country.