Congo Town, Monrovia: In the quest to expand Liberia’s economy through digital technology, the government has trained 10, 000 youths across Liberia with basic skills in information and communication technology (ICT), edging a significant fulfilment of President Boakai’s first State of the Union promise of empowering young people with basic skills in digital technology.
The training lasted over five months under the auspices of the Liberia Digital Transformation Training Program, LDTP.
“The digital program is more than a training; we envisage to train over half a million Liberians across the 15 Counties,” says Minister Abdullah Kamara, Chairman of the Liberia Digital Training. “The Ministry of Education (MOE) and the Liberia Telecommunications Authority (LTA) have already started working to implement digital skills training in the national curriculum to teach high school students in Liberia, which will also train 45,000 Liberian youths in similar program,” he added.
Minister Kamara, in an overview statement of the LDTP awards ceremony, commended President Boakai for reposing confidence in the team to effectively execute the digital training program across the 15 counties. He said the knowledge shared with the young people will help accelerate youth transformation and make them productive citizens.
“When President Boakai promised to train over 10,000 young people across the 15th counties, most people did not believe that this could be achieved. I’m happy to hear from the evaluation team and also the monitoring team for those who covered the training both face-to-face and online. I’m also happy to get feedback from the monitoring team for some of those challenges they had during the training and also from our partners that helped us to execute this program,” Minister Kamara asserted.
Also speaking, the Deputy Minister for Budget Planning at the Ministry of Finance, Mrs. Tanneh Brunson, said the achievement represents not only the training of Liberian youths but also the collective efforts of partners, mentors, and individuals involved with the realization of the program.
“We are laying the foundation for our entire nation; these young people are the beacon of hope and the quest to take on the challenges in the digital economy,” she stated, adding, “The digital transformation program was designed with a golden mind to foster economic growth and create sustainable opportunity for the youth and equipping them with new skills such as digital marketing, cyber security, and others, not just a piece of paper, but with the symbol of high work,” Minister Brunson continued.
In an official remark on behalf of President Boakai, the Minister of State without Portfolio and special services at the Samuel Steveqouah lauded the implementing partners for the successful completion of the president’s promise. He said the success of the LDTP demonstrates the power of vision and commitment and collective efforts, as championed by the ruling Unity Party flagbearer.
“The effort that brought us together here today was fuelled by the government and headed by the steering committee and was strongly supported by the members of the board of the LTA in collaboration with the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the Ministry of Education, as well as the Ministry of Post and Telecommunication; your work has set a pace, a first brick in the foundation of digital transformation in Liberia,” Minister Stevequoah asserted.
Minister Stevequoah stated that President Boakai has mandated the Liberia Digital Transformation Program to work with relevant ministries and agencies, including the Ministry of Education, Liberia Telecommunication Authority, and the National Identification Registry, to execute appropriate programs that would incorporate the graduates and help upcoming Liberians gain advanced digital knowledge.
He said the Liberian leader has mandated the Ministry of Education to include digital education in the national curriculum, while the LDTP will work with the LTA, LCt, and the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications to establish ICT centers in every county of Liberia.
Minister Stevequoah, while reminiscing about the benefits of ICT to nation-growth, encouraged the young people to be resilient and use the knowledge acquired under the LDTP to contribute meaningfully to the development of their communities, ye Liberia.
The official awards and certification ceremony of the LDTP was held at the Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf Ministerial Complex in Congo Town, with similar exercises held at different venues across the country.
