- The minister of communication said ICT can create massive employment opportunities if properly harnessed
- He said the major challenges facing the sector at the moment are lack of infrastructure, inadequate investments, etc.
- He said the federal government is working on promoting investments in the sector so as to create job more job opportunities for Nigerians
The minister of communication, Barrister Adebayo Shittu on Tuesday, March 6 said that the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has the capacity to employ over 45 million Nigerians if properly put to use in Nigeria.
The communication minister said this while inaugurating the board members of Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST), National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and the Nigerian Communications Satellite (NIGCOMSAT), Nigerian Tribune reports.
Shittu reiterated that the ICT sector is one of the key pillars of the Nigerian economy contributing more than 10% of the GDP.
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He said that the sector has great potentials for contributing significantly to Nigeria’s economic recovery and Growth through economic diversification, creating opportunities for social inclusion, job creation and youth empowerment, improving human capital and facilitating economic competitiveness.
“The ICT sector is one of the key pillars of the Nigerian economy contributing more than 10% of the GDP. The sector has great potentials for contributing significantly to Nigeria’s economic recovery and Growth through economic diversification, creating opportunities for social inclusion, job creation and youth empowerment, improving human capital and facilitating economic competitiveness.
“It has been suggested that the Devices, Software Solution and e-Commerce sector alone could employ well over 45 million Nigerians and rake in significant revenue,” the minister stated.
However, Shittu noted that the major challenges to the ICT sector in Nigeria have been lack of an integrated framework for coordinated development, inadequate infrastructure leading to low access of Nigerians to the benefits of ICT, poor local content in the ICT industry, inadequate investments in the sector and low Capacity including lack of globally competitive skills.
He said: “The availability of infrastructure has a significant impact on the development of ICT market. Apart from catalyzing infrastructural development through the highly competitive telecom sector, we are pursuing Government time bound investments in good quality infrastructure facilities and services as well as a robust, reliable and secure telecommunications network, which is globally competitive and is also highly accessible and affordable.
“We are accelerating implementation of the National Broadband Plan and promoting investments towards last mile access and improvements in the quality of existing networks.
“Investments in ICT infrastructure will always offer further economic growth and opportunity. We have identified and will implement high impact infrastructure projects that will create businesses for local contractors, contracts for service suppliers, jobs for local residents – and the potential for spin-off industries. We envisage creating a massive number of jobs every year for Nigerians through our efforts on Infrastructure Development.
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“Increased ICT infrastructure will also help to solidify national security, strengthen sovereignty and promote good governance. We are well on our way there with the kind of infrastructural investments that we envisage including regional fibre –optic links and metro rings. Recently, the Federal Executive Council approved the implementation of the National ICT Infrastructure Backbone II project”.
NAIJ.com previously reported that the federal government approved an ICT academy in schools within the six geo-political zones of the country to fast-track the innovations of students.
The minister of education, Malam Adamu Adamu, said this at the inauguration of the UNITeS CISCO Internet of Things (IoT) Networking Academy at the Federal Government Girls College, Bwari.
Represented by the permanent secretary in the ministry, Sonny Echono, the minister said as part of the initiative to fast track ICT innovations among children, the gesture was apt as it would help transfer knowledge for the future endeavours of the students.
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Source: Naija.ng