My Vision: A Digitally Literate Niger State Where No One Is Left Behind

When we speak of digital transformation, it’s easy to imagine high-tech offices and urban innovation hubs. But the real measure of success is whether digital tools reach the farmer in a rural village, the woman in the market, and the student in an under-resourced school. My vision for Niger State is one where digital literacy is not a privilege of geography or income — it is a right of citizenship.

Why Digital Literacy Is an Equity Issue

Niger State is Nigeria’s largest state by land area, with 25 local government areas, significant rural communities, and a diverse population. For too many residents, the digital economy is something that happens elsewhere — in Lagos, in Abuja, on a screen they can see but not participate in. That gap is not just economic. It is political. It is social. And it is solvable.

What “No One Left Behind” Means in Practice

It means building training infrastructure that reaches beyond Minna. It means designing programmes in languages and formats that rural communities can engage with. It means TechSis — our initiative to specifically bring women into technology pathways — because digital inclusion without gender inclusion is not inclusion at all. It means partnering with schools, community centres, and local government councils to deliver skills, not just proclaim them.

The 2027 Goal

Governor Bago’s administration has set a clear target: 75% digital literacy across Niger State by 2027. That goal is now the central mandate of NSITDEA — the Niger State Information Technology and Digital Economy Agency — which I lead as Pioneer Director General. Every training programme, every partnership, every LMS user added to our 350,000+ base brings us closer to that target. And every community we fail to reach is a reminder of why the work is not done.