by Fred Nwaozor,
It’s not anymore news that digitization has come to stay in the global community, and would likely dominate the entire workplace in no distant time.
Little wonder many concerned personnel have constantly and consistently harped on the inevitable role of the tool in mankind’s day-to-day activity, in every facet of human endeavour.
Penultimate month, a group of experts called on various workers and business owners to up-skill and enhance their relevance in the digital era.
They spoke at a three-day 2022 International Work Festival themed, ‘the future of work in a technology-driven world (Work-Humans)’, organized by Human Resources Expo Africa (HREA).
The Founder of HREA, Erefa Coker stated that it was important to solve digitization challenges to improve productivity in the workplace and allied places.
She said, “Instead of taking workers out of job, it is important that employers help their employees to up-skill. There are many courses online that the employee can explore. You cannot stop learning.
“Employers of labour must learn new ways and see what they can take back to their workplace to help them design solutions that will enable their workers to be happier.” she stressed.
She further noted that, because it was humans that drive technology, there was a compelling need for workers to empower themselves digitally to be able to use the technology.
“Nigeria is fast becoming a technology hub. We have Nigerians who work for different companies in America. We are going to become India at some point, once we get a lot of things right in the country.
Once the government puts the infrastructure in place, we will have young population talent. The education system is fixed so that people get quality education and our education system reflects what is happening in the world so that it is not until I come out of a university that I know how to use a computer.”
On his part, the Chief Executive of Willway Paradime, Dolapo Agbede, opined that persons with disabilities (PWDs) also had talents and deserved an opportunity in the workplace.
Agbede, therefore, implored organizations to be disability-inclusive and to up-skill their employees living with disabilities to help them earn an income with dignity.
“In our organization, Willway Paradime, we can connect people who want to learn from people who are ready to teach. And then with the connection between those two, when they have now learnt, we can also connect them to where they can work.
“So we serve as a bridge; we say that we are NEXUS of social engineering because we are ensuring that we are changing the way people see persons with disabilities, technology because that is the way we are going to work in the future.
He stated that the firm ensures disability inclusion in all facets, because the disabled persons were part of the social cycle. Hence, they create the social part of interacting and being productive with persons with disabilities.
It’s only a dummy that’s yet to comprehend that virtually all mankind’s activities are currently being controlled by digitization. It suffices to assert that the digital age is fast taking over almost everything done by humans.
This is the reason every individual or entity, be it entrepreneur, student, political leader, public servant or what have you, needs to step up action in leveraging the numerous positive impacts of the digital age.
The various schools across Nigeria and beyond, from primary to tertiary level, must therefore ensure their wards or students key into the digital aspect of learning, so when they eventually graduate, they can compete favourably with their likes anywhere in the world.
The truth is that, digitization has obviously come to stay, hence must be embraced fully by everyone irrespective of their occupation or affiliation.
