With statistics showing that there is huge shortage of skills in Nigeria's rapidly expanding economy, especially in the ICT sector, the opportunities open to graduates from the NetAcademies are limitless. These opportunities increase in number because the certifications and skills have global relevance. Many success stories of people that have become certified and changed their destinies abound.

The St. Louis Girls College in Jos trained its young girls in Cisco's IT Essentials, and they in turn networked their campus without outside help. Isa Maikano, a Fulani man from one of the migratory settlements in Pankshin, who after graduation from one of the programmes has used his Cisco I.T Essentials 1 Certificate to gain employment in Abuja.

Across the border, a shining example of how the Cisco NetAcademy programme can change lives is the story of 24 Liberian refugees who recently graduated with the prestigious Cisco Certified Network Administrators, CCNA, in Accra, Ghana.

To replicate these success stories in many communities in Nigeria, thereby opening up access to many more Nigerians, Cisco has designed a PLAN-IT toolkit. It has three components: financial sustainability toolkit to manage income/expenses of academies; gender initiative toolkit, helping to bring the girl-child into ICT; and workforce development toolkit for industry-integration of the graduates. This kit is designed to, among others, reduce cost of the programme to the beneficiaries, and enhance access to groups of people that may not have the resources to pursue a rewarding IT career.

Very early on, and with proper planning, a student in a secondary school could commence the Cisco certification programme, passing and moving up to the next stages. With the right application, the student could attain the highest certification possible before her graduation from a tertiary institution. This immediately secures her future, placing her at a vantage position to select from a host of offers that would come her way. It is on record that in Nigeria, there are more vacancies for Network Administrators than there are qualified people to fill the vacancies!

As the economy grows and the activities of many companies increase, and their need to store, manage, and secure large amount of data also increases, the skills of Network Administrators and other Cisco certified professionals will always be in demand. The huge growth in the telecom sector has led to absorption of all available skilled hands in Nigeria. Yet the demand still outstrips supply. Other sectors in the economy have had to cope with less qualified hands to manage their systems.

The NetAcademies have experienced mixed fortunes in Nigeria. Some of the challenges range from inability to sustain the programme because their organizations quickly call up certified Nigerians. However, awareness of the benefits of the programme is not pervasive. Thirdly, there is still gender disequilibrium at the NetAcademies. The prospect of the NetAcademies is on the up. The initiative between the FME and Cisco is expected to produce, and has the potential to produce hundreds of thousands of Nigerians with IT skills, making them suitable to work anywhere in the world.

The latest skill gap survey shows that ICT skills will remain the most in demand for the next five to 10 years, with networking skills topping the skill-gap charts. The networked world is the future. Any Nigerian with the requisite skill to work in a networked economy will not stay unemployed longer than it would take to put his curriculum vitae together.

Tabe is the NetAcademy Manager, Cisco Nigeria.

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