Skills more preferable to qualifications – Minister

The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Pantami has advocated the preference of skills over qualifications, stressing that that individuals with proven skills remained more valuable than those with mere qualifications.

Dr Pantami stated this while delivering an address as the guest lecturer at the Course 82 graduation ceremony of National Defence College on Tuesday in Abuja.

While revealing that the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy had developed a draft policy document on virtual meetings and engagements in the Federal Civil Service of the country, Pantami said global business and tech giants had since adopted the strategy of the preference of skills over qualifications.

Speaking further on the draft policy document on virtual meetings and engagements in the Federal Civil Service of the country, Pantami said the document was developed by the ministry in collaboration with the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation.

The Minister informed the guests that the draft document, in line with the ministry’s mandate to promote a Digital Economy was ready to be presented at the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in the coming weeks.

He explained that the COVID-19 pandemic had forced the nation to adopt the use of technology in governance and this had necessitated the urgency to promote e-governance in an orderly manner.

“As enshrined in the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy Document the new policy will promote the pillars of service infrastructure as well as digital services development and promotion represented as pillars four and five.

“Pillar four says service infrastructure, while pillar five says digital services development and promotion,” he said.

On the issue of security, Pantami said that the real warfare was fought in the cyberspace as cyber criminals operate at a speed far ahead of the speed of law and called for measures to ensure the space was secured.

“We must take very deliberate steps to ensure that our cyberspace is significantly secured,” he said.