FG Empowers 70 Media Managers With Tablets

The Federal Government, through the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Technical, Vocational and Entrepreneurship Education (OSSAP-TVEE), has empowered 70 digital media personnel with tablets to strengthen grassroots communication and awareness of Federal Government vocational and entrepreneurship programmes.

The initiative, unveiled in Abuja, is aimed at improving information dissemination on the National Poverty Reduction with Growth Strategy (NPRGS), as well as government's vocational, entrepreneurship, and digital empowerment programmes more broadly.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on TVEE, Dr Abiola Arogundade, presented the tablets during a media information and empowerment meeting with digital media managers. She said the engagement was designed to provide media practitioners with first-hand information on government initiatives and strengthen their capacity to connect potential beneficiaries with available opportunities. She explained that the office would subsequently engage print and broadcast media practitioners as well, to ensure that all segments of the media ecosystem are carried along in its grassroots outreach efforts.

"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," Arogundade said, stressing the importance of the media in taking information about government interventions beyond Abuja and into communities across the country.

"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 added.

According to Arogundade, millions of young Nigerians, artisans, trained professionals, and small entrepreneurs possess the skills and determination to participate in the digital economy but lack access to the appropriate devices needed to do so. "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," she said.

The presidential aide explained that the Federal Government is taking digital devices and skills training to states across the country to expand opportunities for Nigerians to participate meaningfully in the digital and vocational economy. She urged the beneficiaries to deploy the tablets productively, particularly by amplifying information about government programmes and connecting potential beneficiaries with available opportunities. "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," Arogundade said.

She also called for robust media coverage of the forthcoming NPRGS Oyo State phase, scheduled to run from September 28 to October 9, 2026, describing it as part of the government's broader grassroots empowerment drive.

According to the office, the initiative reflects the Federal Government's commitment to expanding access to vocational skills, digital tools, entrepreneurship opportunities, and timely information, as part of wider efforts to promote inclusive development at the grassroots level. By equipping digital media managers directly with reporting tools, the programme appears designed to extend the visibility of government vocational and entrepreneurship schemes into communities that conventional federal communication channels have historically struggled to reach, relying on media practitioners embedded at the local level to carry that information the final distance into towns and villages across the country.