Nigeria plans to create 1.2m jobs through ICT

The Nigerian government on Tuesday said it had put in place plan to create 1.2 million jobs for youths through Information technology (ICT) and Internet services. Peter Jack, the director general of National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), who made this known in Abuja, the nation's capital city at a forum, said the agency was planning to create opportunities for young entrepreneurs to manage economic activities. "We plan to partner with the Bank of Industry, the Central Bank of Nigeria and we are working with a number of agencies in that regard and we will focus mainly on government officials, we are planning to implement e-government both in the federal, state and local government levels," the official added. Jack told his audience that the agency also planned to train government personnel's across the country, noting that internet technology was very important for the Nigerian youth to become better entrepreneurs for self reliance. Experts at the forum said Internet was important for youths because it was now the base to become entrepreneur. The experts added that Nigeria had a youth population of about 80 million out of which 64 million had been unemployed, saying entrepreneurs had created billions of dollar opportunities and it was not necessary for them to work for government.