Oluchi Chibuzor
Learntor, a digital capacity building learning centre in Lagos, has expressed its readiness in bridging the technology skills gap by leveraging on agile in providing access to over 230 million jobs that are available globally in the digital industry.
This is as Agile relates to a method of project management used for software development, but is characterised by the division of tasks into short phases of work with frequent reassessment and adaptation of plans.
Disclosing this in Lagos, the Founder of Learntor, Mercy George-Igbafe, said the lack of needed skills is denying Nigerians, especially the youth, access to jobs that can be performed remotely in the digital industry.
She noted that the Agile method replaces high-level design with frequent redesign, and is currently embedded with 46 frameworks.
She stated that this was not in the best interest of the continent with over 1.3 billion people who are mostly youth, adding that in view of this, they have concluded plans to hold Women in Agile (WIA).
“As part of the efforts to help bridge the digital skill gap, and with support from a number of organisations, we are holding the Women in Agile (WIA), Africa conference. The three-day virtual event is tagged; ‘Uniting and transforming Africa across Agile. It is free for participants but registration is compulsory.”
According to her, the conference aims to create awareness, exploring innovative opportunities for Africans by advancing agile values and principles, and creating a safe space for networking, developing new skills, sharing ideas and flourishing together.
Igbafe stated that speakers from across the continent would deliver papers for the WIA Africa Conference scheduled to hold between January 27 and 29 and that the conference would be delivered in three different languages that is English, French and Portuguese.
One of the resource persons, Bisi Alimi, said; “anybody can adapt into agile hence the conference seeks to bridge the digital skills gap in Africa. According to her, lots of Africans are not digitally savvy because many still hold the opinion that they require a science background.
“Africans must be responsive to changes in adapting the agile frameworks and that the conference will expose participants to the various opportunities available in the tech space for Nigerians and ability to position themselves for the jobs of the future.”
