Digitisation will create more jobs – Danbatta

Fri, Sep 27, 2019
By publisher
3 MIN READ

Business Briefs

THE Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, has urged private and public sectors to embrace digitisation. Prof. Umar Danbatta, executive vice chairman, NCC, said this would create more jobs and drive socio-economic benefits in the country.

In his keynote address at the Business Journal Second Annual Lecture and Awards in Lagos, Danbatta said the role of innovation for growth is strengthened by advances in new technologies. He urged the country to pay greater focus on knowledge creation.

He noted that the more advanced a country becomes in terms of digitisation, the greater the benefits. He listed the concepts that would transit the country into digital Nigeria to include digitisation, digitalisation and digital transformation.

Danbatta, who was represented by Henry Nkemadu, director, public affairs, NCC, said the three concepts often intertwined or used interchangeably, but with distinct definitions. He explained digitalisation as the use of digital technologies to change a business model and provide new revenue and value-producing opportunities, and the process of moving to a digital business.

He further described digitisation as the process of converting information into a digital format, where information is organised into discrete units of data that can be separately addressed. To him, digitalisation is therefore transforming relevant digital information into business and economic activities that drive national growth and development.

Danbatta defined digital transformation as the profound and accelerating transformation of business activities, processes, competencies and models to fully leverage the changes and opportunities of digital technologies and their impact across society in a strategic and prioritised way. “Digital transformation requires a much broader adoption of digital technology and cultural change. Digital transformation is more about people and about digital technology.

“It requires organisational changes that are customer-centric, backed by leadership, driven by radical challenges to corporate culture, and the leveraging of technologies that empower and enable employees,” he said.

According to Danbatta, Digital Nigeria has become a reality and not a myth, having contributed 13.86 percent to the GDP, as at second quarter of 2019. “The ICT Sector in Nigeria has attained remarkable milestones in ensuring that the sector continues to play a great role in Nigeria’s economic diversification and sustainability.

“This is done by consistently ensuring that the necessary policies and infrastructure are enhanced, so that the requisite technological platform for a viable economic diversification can ensue. Certainly, no economy is sustainable on a mono product.

“ICT is changing the way companies do business, transforming public service delivery and encouraging innovation. In the new world order, the competitiveness of economies depends on their ability to leverage new technologies,” he said.

– Sept. 27, 2019 @ 16:39 GMT |

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