The Edo State Government has said it is working with partners and other stakeholders on the domestication of the Digital Economy Plan and Strategy framework to promote digital inclusion in the State.

Speaking with journalists in Benin City, the Permanent Secretary, Edo State Ministry of Digital Economy, Science and Technology, Yuwa Naps, said the state government will continue to discuss with partners on the implementation of the Nigeria digital economy policy.

She noted, “As part of the transformation agenda, the Edo State Government is in partnership with Tech4Dev, the Nigerian Economic Summit Group and other partners on the inclusive use of technology.

“We are continuing our conversation around domestication of the Nigeria digital economy policy. We are looking forward to pushing the policy in Edo State.”

The Permanent Secretary urged stakeholders to support the state government’s plan on developing the document.

According to her “the domestication of the policy document will encompass how MSMEs work and operate in Edo and how private businesses exist and work in Edo, ensuring to provide technology across the board for everyone.

On his part, the Managing Director, Edo State Investment Promotion Office (ESIPO), Mr. Kelvin Uwabi said the policy review on Digital Economy in Edo state will create an opportunity to deepen the use of technology by small businesses.

According to him, “the essence is to make sure we are able to domesticate digital economy policy. There are different sections of the policy. In Edo State, it is what we call digital inclusion. We want to be able to have digital inclusion where every Edo person can access technology.”

Uwaibi said the Edo State will be training over 3,000 Civil and Public servants on Digital Appreciation and at the same time also having packages for businesses in Edo State.

“Edo is one of the states that focuses on business, one of what we did was to ensure we built the capacity, what we call the micro small and medium enterprise, at the time we trained and built the capacity of 445 businesses.

“They could start to put their products online. Feedback has been very interesting. As a matter of fact, a lot of them have expressed appreciation to the state government.”

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L-R: Managing Director, Edo State Investment Promotion Office (ESIPO), Kelvin Uwaibi; Permanent Secretary, Edo State Ministry of Digital Economy, Science and Technology, Yuwa Naps; Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Sustainability, Joel Edionwe, and Managing Director, Edo State Transport Authority (ESTA), Mrs Edugie Agbonlahor, after a workshop on the State Inclusive Digital Economy Initiative, in Benin City.