Imo Has Widened Economic Space, Diversified State’s Economy Through Technology

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Imo Has Widened Economic Space, Diversified State’s Economy Through Technology — Amadi

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By Chibuike Chukwu On Nov 28, 2024

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Dr. Chimezie Amadi, the Imo State Commissioner for Digital Economy & e-Government, in this interview with CHIBUIKE CHUKWU, explains how Governor Hope Uzodinma has been leveraging technology through digital evolution to not only build the state’s economy but projects Imo to the world. He said the governor has also succeeded in tackling insecurity and unemployment with technology, blaming pockets of security breaches in the state to external forces bent on undermining the efforts of the state government. Excerpts

Imo has been spoken of in recent times to have invested and developed so much in ICT and digital technology; what motivated Governor Uzodinma to give priority attention to this area?

There are two key factors that are driving the Digital revolution that you see in Imo State today; first, it is the recognition of the fact that we are being confronted with the youth surge where you see that seventy percent of the Imo population are within the youthful age. And because of the huge youth population, you will find out that the economic space is not large enough to accommodate the entire young people. You know everyone wants to work with the government; everyone wants to work with either the Federal Government or the state government, or within the corporate systems that we know, like in the banks or other sectors. But then, there is an opportunity of using and leveraging the technology to appropriate the energy of our youths, as we have a very high youth population not only in Imo State but in Nigeria as a whole. There is the need to channel these huge youth population towards technology because technology hasa way and means of widening the economic space and it has the potential to reshape the mindsets of the youths. I mean it can widen the economic space through diversification. And because Imo is more or less an economy that depends on its oil and gas, there is now the need to skill up the youth population, give them fourth industrial revolution skill set and that will help them become innovators within the knowledge economy. As innovators and as they develop these digital products and services, they will help the government achieve efficiency, higher productivity growth and a booming economy where everyone will either create jobs or be gainfully and productively engaged. Through this, there will be a population of Imo State that will be digitally aware, who will be digitally skilled up to use those innovative products and services and that will create a chain within the knowledge economy. Through that, the Imo State economy is truly diversified. The other one is to ensure that youth unemployment is tackled head-on. This is because by the time you give people skill and they are able to hone those skills and use those skills to provide services, they become automatic wealth creators; that way they can become bosses of their own, they will become job creators and not job seekers and that will be to the benefit of the state and this is also besides the advantage in the value chain. Through This, a lot of youths who were idle would be engaged. They would be productive and contribute to the digital economy of the state, and that will also generate growth at the end of the day. These and many more are the factors why His Excellency has given attention to the digital transformation of Imo State, these are the factors that made him to point the Imo economy towards digitilisation. It is one task that is in the heart of Governor Hope Uzodinma because he is so passionate about seeing diverse opportunities for Imo Youths. He is very aware of the dangers of not given requisite skills to the youths and that is why, since he became the governor, he has not hidden his passion to ensure that the younger ones are presented with opportunities to exploit and bring out their best for their own benefits and for the benefit of the state

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While I won’t single out Imo State, I know that the entire South East geopolitical zone has been bedeviled with insecurity in recent time. Consequently, to what extent has the digital revolution in Imo State has helped to stem the tide?

It is exactly what I have said earlier concerning the drive of the state government to leverage digital revolution to engage the youths. By the way, most of the things you hear about insecurity in the region are more or less exaggerated. I am from Imo and when I leave here, I am going back to Imo. So most of the stories about Imo are exaggerated and such stories are perpetrated with intent to damage and portray the state bad because Imo presently has the greatest growth potential with all that the present administration is putting in place. The purveyors of such stories are doing so for their selfish reasons and not because they are right on the true situation in the state. In terms of the human capital, we are the most literate state in Nigeria; in terms of hydro carbon deposit in Nigeria, we are unmatched. We have human resources in abundance, we have other natural resources and we have arable lands and we have opportunities to exploit all these God-giving natural resources to the benefits of Imolites and Ndi Imo. Yes there are insecurity and everywhere in the world, there is also insecurity; it is not something that is particular to Imo State or Nigeria in general, but it is a global challenge. The global war is still raging, go to Europe it is there, go to Asia and the story is the same and other parts of Africa are not isolated from insecurity. These are factors that are driven by either politics or global warming with attendant changes in behaviourial patterns. In Imo, it is not anything near the way they present it because go to parts of the state and you see businesses thriving while new ones are coming up. In Imo, there is a huge opportunity to use technology to stem the tide and put a seal on the issue of insecurity because technologywidens the economicspace and presents multiple opportunities for the young ones to be meaningfully engaged. This is because insecurity thrives when you have idle minds. You know they say, an idle mind is the devil’s workshop. The proponents or architects of this insecurity are thriving because they have some youths who are idle and in such a situation, they become easy recruits for them. So when you get the youths busy and productive which His Excellency is trying very hard to do, you will find out that they will not be willing to become tools in the hands of these evil people. That is why technology which His Excellency hasembraced has become a very powerful tool in addressing the issues of insecurity and since we started because we are about two years old now since we started leveraging technology to solve socioeconomic problems, a lot of results have been achieved to the commendation of people from far and near. The tide of incessant insecurity hasdecreased very much unlike what we had in the past. You could see progress, a lot of progress in the state in all areas. People are getting busy, people are getting creative and they are also getting innovative because of the right environment that has been provided for them by His Excellency throughlearning new skills and they have been following those skills to solve a lot of problems and create wealth for themselves. So you see, criminals can’t recruit them because the youths who are earlier targets of recruitment for evil purposes have alternative ways, a legitimate way to keep themselves busy and become wealth creators rather than becoming tools in the hands of the proponents of the insecurity.

How has Imo State been able to sell its digital revolution? I mean have there been a kind of affiliation the state has gained outside the country to underline recognition?

We have been recognised and we have collaborators and partners across the world. It might interest you to know that with the SkillUpImo programme which is our flagship digital programme in the state, we are partnering with companies like Cisco and Microsoft and we are centres of excellence recognised by these two giants in the tech world where we offer courses, I mean certification courses for them. So we are training Cisco experts in cyber security, in data analytics, in artificial intelligence and other areas within the ICT sector, and so also goes for the Microsoft. And beyond that, just a few months ago, we formed a partnership with a body called European Union Digital SME Alliance which is a body that comprises forty five thousand digital SMEs in Europe. With this development, we have an alliance with them also and they have shared their platforms where we encourage our people to engage in remote working. So Imoas at today is globally recognised when it comes to technology development, when it comes to technology adoption and also when it comes to digital skills production. So we have both local and international alliances and that hasplaced us in the global map. If you go and ask Meta AI about Skill Up Imo, you will see what it would tell you about that flagship programme and similarly, if you ask other AI platforms about Skill Up Imo, they have something to tell you. I will guarantee you that they would tell you those things that are pleasing to the ears.

Governor Uzodinma recently beat four other governors to win the Digital Governor of the Year Award of the National Information Technology Merit Award (NITMA) organised by the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS); you received the award on his behalf; how did it feel?

We were deeply honored to accept the award on behalf of HIS Excellency, Distinguished Sen. Hope Uzodimma as the prestigious award was from a highly regarded body like the Nigerian Computer Society. For us in Imo State, we cherish the award as an endorsement of His Excellency’s unwavering commitment to leveraging the transformative power oftechnology in driving socio-economicprogress. In Imo State, we believe thattechnology is not just a tool but a catalyst for reshaping industries, creating opportunities and empowering Imolites. We therefore dedicate the award to the vibrant Imo tech community—our developers, innovators, and dreamers—whose creativity and resilience have fueled our ambition to position Imo State as Nigerian digital skills capital and innovation hub. Together, we will keep building a future where technology is at the heart of sustainable development, not only for Imo State but for the entire nation.

His Excellency hasobviously detailed his attention in the evolution of technologyand the digital economy in Imo State but how proactive and attentive is the present government in the state in the area of insecurity? This question is imperative given the challenges of insecurity in the entire South East as said earlier…

To be honest with you, Imo State is blessed to have His Excellency as the governor of the state: if not that a man of his kind is in the saddle with the capacity that hehas and with the gusto and passion that he hasto tackle this evil machinery head-on, we would have been telling a different story today. He has refused to unnecessarily negotiate Imo out to insecurity. He has, within the law, working with law enforcement agencies, trying to make sure and working day and night to ensure that Imo State remains safe. Some of these insecurity occurrences are politically contrived and you find out that because they are man-made, that is also the way they will fizzle out. So His Excellency is doing all he could do and if you come to ImoState today, you will see the results of his efforts because our governor is a man who is determined, who is ebullient with courage and he is moving to make sure that every Imo citizen is secured. But even though these evil people remain unrelenting, he is also unrelenting in making sure that Imo is kept safe. So I will say that we in Imo are blessed with a man of his courage and capacity and doing everything that he is supposed to do within the confines of the constitution to keep Imo safe. Forget what the people who don’t mean well for Imo State are telling you, the state is thriving and people are doing their businesses with ease as His Excellency hasprovided the enabling environment. He is focused on providing security because he is one person that understands that without security nothing will work. And like I said earlier, one of the key ways of ensuring that there is peace in the state is throughtechnology and digital revolution, and the award he recently won is a testament to how he has been able to drive this course which is very dear to him. Like I also mentioned earlier, the various affiliations the state has entered into in technology and digital evolution are good examples of how His Excellency has been able to leverage technology to project Imo to the world and all those things won’t have been possible without a governor bent on providing a secured environment for the people and businesses.

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Chibuike Chukwu

Chibuike Chukwu is a Senior Correspondent with Independent Newspapers Limited, a member of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) and Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN). He has reported sports, especially football, for more than eight years and presently writes on Nigeria football league, the national football teams as well as other sports. His professional career has taking him through a couple of media organizations. He is a graduate of the University of Calabar.

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Imo Has Widened Economic Space, Diversified State’s Economy Through Technology — Amadi

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