The Code Plateau Program which was kicked off last year by Governor Simon Lalong is set for its second edition as Code Plateau 2.0 begins today in Jos, capital of Plateau State in central Nigeria. The program which is a part of Governor Lalong’s administration’s focus on human capacity building fostered round the digital economy; and targeting young people.
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The Code Plateau program is designed by the Plateau State Information and Communication Technology Development Agency (PICTDA) to build a pool of highly skilled young people in digital tools.
Code Plateau 2.0 is anchored on a mix of virtual and real-life training sessions.
About 80 successful candidates. inducted into the first cohort in 2019 from over 700 applicants that were screened, are already headlining the core objectives to create new jobs, deepen the employability of young people across sectors, and inspire a new generation of skilled digital entrepreneurs, said Director General of PICTDA, Mr. Daser David, while announcing the start of Code Plateau 2.0.
Over half the trained hands are either fully employed in various organizations or are already on the pathway to becoming productive entrepreneurs in the NextEconomy, added David.
PICTDA helping Abuja plugs into digital economy
The new developers from central Nigeria add to the growing list of critical skill sets that could help drive Africa’s largest economy of over 200 million people as Abuja plugs into the digital economy.
The Code Plateau is focusing on training the youth of Plateau state in ICT to produce an enormous number of talents which would give birth to the desired technology driven economy.
The “Code Plateau” is the flagship of the ‘Silicon Plateau Project’ according to David. It forms the kernel of Governor Lalang’s vision for youth empowerment, employability and an overall new economy for Plateau State.
The program is expected to “create talents through a full-time immersive boot camp that is designed for young people who want to start their career in IT and kick start their portfolio of real-life projects that utilize modern tools. The ultimate goal of Code Plateau is to train, nurture and position these fellows in job internship across the diverse technology companies in Nigeria,” David added in Jos.
According to the PICTDA’s boss, Code Plateau forms part of the framework for development of ICT as an industry which is vital to the economic growth of Plateau State in line with the mandate of PICTDA to drive a technology value in the state.
Code for Plateau
As Code Plateau 2,0 kicks off, PICTDA also plans to launch its global wide participatory innovation platform for developers within and outside Nigeria: The Code for Plateau.
‘Code for Plateau’ is designed to run as an open source project for developers from Plateau state, Nigeria and across the world to provide solutions within a tech community framework able to uniquely addressed the identified needs of Plateau state with more than four million people.
“We intend to roll out our eGovernment architecture while the Code Plateau 2.0 is taking place. We will roll out the modalities for Code for Plateau. We expect everyone in the world to contribute to the first of its kind eGovernment development initiative in Nigeria. We plan to hold workshops and zoom meetings as the plan unfolds,” said David.
