The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), on Saturday donated a N30 million ICT centre to the Richard George Foundation (RGF).
The Director- General, NITDA, Mr Kashifu Abdullahi made the donation at the formal inauguration of Gala/ Fund raising of RGF in Abuja.
Abdullahi explained that part of the agency intervention programme, which was also part of President Bola Tinubu ‘s “Renewed Hope” agenda was to provide infrastructure that could be used to promote innovation and entrepreneurship for people.
“We call it digital economy centre. We provide such centres to schools and communities.
“The centre comes with computers, furnitures, internet connectivity, printers, photo copiers, air conditioners, solar power, generators, and all necessary equipment needed for a centre to function,” he said.
The NITDA boss also said that the three strategic pillars of the foundation, which included education, skills and entrepreneurship,connected with his life story.
”I was born and raised in Jigawa, in a community full of artisans. But most of the people don’t go to school.
”But I was opportuned to go to school because my parents, especially my father insisted that we must finish university before we start anything.
”So I was brought up with two core values, which were my home core values, and my community ‘s core values, ” he said.
Abdullahi said that his father instilled that in him the core values, and that in all sincerity, the RGF strategic pillars connected and aligned with that value.
He narrated how he was inspired to become a computer scientist.
“The education I got in school is what gave me the knowledge, and I turned that knowledge into skill.
“But on that skill I needed to stand out and get noticed to become an entrepreneur, and so I did my first job, which was to design a web.
“I gave out the web for free, which eventually led to the people inviting me to design a similar web for them, and I was paid N1.5 million,” he said.
The NITDA boss said that money should not always be the main focus but skills acquisition.
”Try and develop skills, and with skills, money will come naturally.
“My story is to inspire the young people, that its not about the morning all the time, but about the skills, and its not about just education, but also the skill.
“When you have education, you need to have the skills to validate the education, without the skill, you cannot validate.
“And also to be an entrepreneur, you need to have that spirit to start and do something,” the NITDA boss said.
Earlier, Mr Richard George, Founder, RGF, said that the event of the day marked a milestone in his life because it birthed a dream.
According to him, the dream is to give back to his community through mentoring young and talented African graduates with a vision “To Raise Africa’s Change Makers”.
He said that the RGF summarised his humble beginnings.
Meanwhile one of the mentee, Mrs Ibigotemieari Adebiyi, described her journey with RGF as one of self-discovery and transformation.