Follow Us on Google
The Federal Government has enlisted 70 digital media managers as grassroots information channels for its vocational, entrepreneurship and digital empowerment programmes, equipping them with tablets to help bridge the gap between government interventions and potential beneficiaries.
The initiative, unveiled on Thursday in Abuja by the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Technical, Vocational and Entrepreneurship Education (OSSAP-TVEE), marks a deliberate shift towards using digital media practitioners to take information about government opportunities beyond the nation’s capital and into communities across the country.
The tablets were presented by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Technical, Vocational and Entrepreneurship Education, Abiola Arogundade, during a media information and empowerment meeting with digital media managers.
The engagement was organised to give the media practitioners first-hand information on Federal Government programmes, particularly those under the National Poverty Reduction with Growth Strategy (NPRGS), while equipping them to identify and connect potential beneficiaries with available vocational, entrepreneurship and digital opportunities.
Arogundade said the decision to empower digital media personnel was deliberate, stressing that government interventions could only achieve their intended impact if Nigerians knew about them and could access the opportunities.
“The empowerment of media personnel is deliberate because you play a critical role in ensuring that government programmes reach communities, young Nigerians, entrepreneurs and other potential beneficiaries,” she said.
She said the media had a crucial role in taking information about government interventions to Nigerians who might otherwise remain unaware of programmes designed to improve their livelihoods.
“Without you, even if we go to these places, nobody will know. We want everybody to know what President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is doing, not just here in Abuja, but in all states,” she said.
The presidential aide linked the initiative to the growing importance of digital access in enabling Nigerians to convert vocational training and entrepreneurial skills into economic opportunities.
According to her, many young Nigerians, artisans, trained professionals and small-scale entrepreneurs possess the skills and determination to participate in the digital economy but remain constrained by inadequate access to appropriate devices.
Other News
“A phone or laptop is a tool to find new customers and turn training into certification. Without it, even the most capable people are locked out of the world,” Arogundade said.
She explained that the Federal Government was taking digital devices and skills training to states across the country as part of efforts to expand access to the digital and vocational economy.
The tablets provided to the media managers, she added, were intended not merely as personal empowerment tools but as instruments for expanding the reach of information about government interventions.
She urged the beneficiaries to deploy the devices productively, particularly by amplifying information on available programmes and helping potential beneficiaries understand how to access them.
“We cannot keep empowering technical people and forget the media. You are the people helping us pass this message to the world. That is why you are here,” she said.
The development comes as the government intensifies its grassroots outreach under its poverty-reduction, vocational and entrepreneurship programmes, with the media expected to play a central role in connecting interventions with communities.
Arogundade announced that her office would subsequently engage print and broadcast media practitioners to ensure that the broader media ecosystem was incorporated into the grassroots communication strategy.
She also called for robust coverage of the forthcoming Oyo State phase of the NPRGS, scheduled for September 28 to October 9, 2026, describing it as part of the Federal Government’s continuing grassroots empowerment drive.
The Oyo programme is expected to provide another opportunity for the government to communicate its vocational, entrepreneurship and digital empowerment interventions directly to communities and potential beneficiaries.
By targeting digital media managers as part of the outreach architecture, the TVEE office is seeking to address a critical challenge in public-sector interventions: ensuring that information about available opportunities reaches the people for whom the programmes are designed.
