Paheja Siririka
WINDHOEK – Nedbank Namibia in collaboration with the Namibia University of Science and Technology (Nust) organised a media fair where they invited schools around the capital to discuss issues affecting the status of digitalisation in Namibia under the theme Catalysing the Digital Economy.
Moderator of the Media Fair, Sluysken Samupofu, second-year economics student and treasurer for the Nust Media Communication Society came up with the topic. “I wanted the focus to be on the fact that digital economy is coming soon plus there is fear of the 4th Industrial Revolution,” he told Youth Corner.
Other topics which were thoroughly discussed was Freedom of Information-can it be a reality in Namibia and building a career in Namibia?. He explained the reason for choosing such topics was to find out if among others if the media is controlling what we see, is the information being disseminated feasible, can media be controlled.
He said the media controls the emotions of the people on how they react to certain coverage especially now that it’s an election year. “Emotions are going to be around the place, as a matter of fact, they are in full swing right now. That’s why we chose this topic,” explained Samupofu.
The main aim of the fair according to Samupofu was teaching young students about getting into the digital economy. He feels it’s of utmost importance that they learn to code, learn more about the digital economy, artificial intelligence, machine learning and so forth.
Asked on the advancement of technology in Namibia and how it can be on par with the rest of the world, Samupofu said the country is investing a lot in the sector.
He mentioned that economically speaking, if more is invested in-house, this means more people will be employed which ultimately means the economy grows and that catalyses for a digital economy. “The youth should engage more in long term discussions for better solutions than that of short term benefits,” concluded Samupofu.
The fair was facilitated by Hugh Ellis, a lecturer in the Department of Communication at Nust, Gwen Lister, Executive Director of Namibia Media Trust, Graham Hopwood, Executive Director of Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR) and Chairperson of the Internet Governance Forum, Natasha Tibinyane.