The Federal Government (FG) has stated that it will strengthen the technology industry in the country to enable it to compete with tech industries from other nations around the world.
The Minister of Communication, Innovation and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, disclosed this while speaking in an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Monday.
He expressed his optimism that Nigeria will overcome India as the net global exporter of technology talents in the world.
He noted that his ministry is into lots of programmes to make this a reality, adding that the overall target of one of the flagship programmes of his ministry is to create jobs for the teeming Nigerian youths.
According to Tijani, the programme, which is geared towards training three million technical talents in four years, is to make Nigeria a net exporter of technology talents just like India.
“We want to make Nigeria a net exporter of technology talents, and by net exporter, we don’t mean that people necessarily live abroad because within the technology space you can now work remotely.
“I have been part of the tech space for the last 15 years as well. The current development in the tech startup space is being driven by less than 10,000 technical talents,” he stated.
He further noted that a well-known tech startup, Andela, has been quite successful in helping to strengthen the technology ecosystem, even though it does not train up to 10,000 people in Nigeria.
He maintained that the industry can do greater things in the world if more talents are trained, stating that talent is the prerequisite for the country’s digital economy.
“When we train people they can build, we can export.
“India did it, it is nothing new. India was the source of technology talents for many years, it is our time because we have everything it takes to be able to get there,” he added.
