The National Information Technology Development Agency says its planned Digital Opportunity Centres, based in rural communities, have the capacity to generate 1.2 million jobs for Nigerian youths. Director-General of the organisation, Mr. Peter Jack, said this in a presentation he made at the 2015 Nigerian Internet Governance Forum hosted in Abuja by the Nigerian Internet Registration Association. Jack said the Digital Opportunity Centres would create opportunities for young entrepreneurs to manage the economic activities in their various communities. According to him, NITDA plans to midwife 200,000 DOCs based in all rural communities that would enable the local populace to explore economic opportunities that were available anywhere in the world. The plan is to engage other state-based enterprise agencies and chambers of commerce to evolve an all-engaging centre that delivers e-Government services; one-stop shop for government services and business information as well as one stop shop for general national information. Jack said, “It will create 1.2 million jobs, if we consider 200,000 units across the country. “We plan to partner with the Bank of Industry, Central Bank of Nigeria and we are working with quite a number of agencies. “We will focus mainly on government officials; we are planning to implement e-government both in the federal, state and local governments. “We are selecting them according to some basic criteria. We have a train the trainer programme. We plan to train Federal Government personnel across the country.” Speaking at the forum, a Commissioner at the Federal Character Commission, Alhaji Nasiru Zarummai, said it was imperative for Nigerian youths to embrace information technology for the purpose of self-reliance and entrepreneurship. Zarummai explained that the internet technology was a very important requirement for entrepreneurs in modern economies, adding that it was not possible for the government to create job opportunities for millions of unemployed youths in the country. The chairperson of the forum, Mrs Mary Nduma, explained that the conference was planned to stimulate the interest of youths in internet opportunities.

I pray this will be a dream come true for nigeria citizens