President, Digital Bridge Institute (DBI), Mohammed Ajiya has called for sponsorship from cooperate Nigerians to assist the institute in bridging the digital literacy gap in the country.

Ajiya made the appeal on Monday in Abuja while receiving members of the Nigerian Information Technology Reporters Association (NITRA) Abuja chapter, in his office.

He commended the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for being supportive adding that for the institute to train more Nigerians across all levels it needed funding from other sources.

Speaking on the importance of training more Nigerians on digital technology, Prof. Ajiya said the institute needed to look for an affordable training fund for more to be achieved.

He stated that the institute was currently in partnership with many foreign ICT companies such as Microsoft and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

According to him, the institute intends to undertake both Masters and Post Graduate programmes but since it is not an academic degree awarding institute, it will have to be affiliated to accredited universities until the end of the programme.

“We are looking for those who can afford training funds so that we can do more.

“We are trying to bridge the digital technology gap; our duty is to train Nigerians on the use of modern technology and since inception in 2004, we have trained no fewer than 60,000 Nigerians.

“We are looking at the possibility of running Masters and Post Graduate programmes with universities that are strong in these areas (Telecommunication and ICT),” he said

According to Ajiya, the NCC has built additional three campuses to the existing three, which includes those in Abuja, Lagos (South West) and Kano (North West).

Others are Asaba (South South), Enugu (South East) and Yola (North East).

He stated that currently, the institute now had a campus each in every geopolitical zone in the country.

The president explained that the DBI offered courses in specialised areas such as Telecommunications Technology, Multimedia Technology, Computer Software Engineering and Computer Hardware Engineering.

He also noted that at the end of the course a graduate would go home with two certificates, one international certification by Microsoft and the other in the specific area of specialisation.

Ajiya added that the institute was speaking to State Governments in the country on the importance of e-governance and that some have already indicated interest for further discussions.