Dele Ogbodo in Abuja
Huawei Technologies has commenced training on information and communications technology (ICT) for staff of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) in Abuja.
The hands-on capacity development training on soft ICT skills, was conducted for about 500 NIS staff in nine designated centres in the country.
At the commencement of the training programme at Huawei headquarters, in Abuja, its Managing Director, Mr. Tank Liteng, said the training would address ICT skills acquisition among NIS staff across various locations in the country.
He said the training would be be done in Abuja, Lagos, Bauchi, Minna, Owerri, Ibadan, Kaduna, Makurdi and Benin City in Edo State.
According to Liteng, “We believe that this programme will empower officers of the Nigerian Immigration Service with appropriate ICT skills and the awareness and soft skills that give competitive advantage globally to catch up with the world trends. Change Nigeria into ICT talents centre of the region and the world.”
In his remarks, the Controller General of NIS, Mr. Mohammec Babandede, said the agency would engage the company in the training, designed to expose staff to ICT skills that will make them deliver more efficient services in 2017.
According to him, efficient service delivery by NIS entails more revenue generation for government, adding that NIS surpassed its 2015 revenue with N6 billion before the end of 2016.
Babandede said the process of issuing resident permits and international passports could only be done hitch-free when officers of the service are fully ICT compliant.
Babandede, while commending Huawei for its contribution to the technology development of the country, said: “Nigeria needs good brains that will transfer technology not people who will come with empty briefcase and go away with money from Nigeria.
“Nigeria at this time wants good money invested in the country, but the the most important is that we want people who will provide work force for our citizens. We are passing through a difficult time where work is very important.”
According to Liteng, a detailed evaluation of the requirement of NIS by the company necessitated the course outline of the training programme, adding that Huawei experts will conduct the training with actual practical experiences.
“We understand the need to improve IT penetration that is why this specialized learning platform has been designed by our experts in the field of ICT industry talent cultivation, with the aim to help trainees obtain right competencies and skills that match their different positions in organisations,” Liteng said.
“We believe this programme shall also reshape the workflow of NIS by increasing efficiency of trainees as the manual work will give way to digital. Trainees will have the adequate skill of no longer recording things manually, which can no doubt improve the efficiency and transparency of governance,” he added.
