Ms Munat Roberts, a U.S. based economist, has advised the Federal Government to invest more on Information, Communication and Technology (ICT).

Roberts made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Abuja.

The expert said that children between the ages of eight and 17 were not being given priority in government’s programmes on ICT.

Roberts, who is also the Chairperson, West Coast Economic Summit (WCES), said her organisation would soon organise a “junior technology innovation camp” for children abroad.

“These children will be trained for two weeks in ICT- related programmes such as a robotic engineering, Apples programme and development of Apples for their phones.

“ We will have a section where girls will do their own programming differently; they are going to be doing seven things based on the number of children.

“It is going to be a campus-based experience and with that they will start a foundation for young children training in the area of technology.

“I haven’t seen any programme in Nigeria for that age bracket; the focus has been on older people and no space for the younger ones.

“So, this will enable them to do that and for these children going there can be as pioneers and later go to school in there and they will be accepted.

“We are looking at range of 50 to 70 children; we want to look at the major organisations that will partner with us so that the cost can come down,’’ she said.

Roberts also urged the government to support the Small Medium Enterprise (SMEs) as drivers of the economy and also to educate prospective investors on the requirements of investing in the country.

She particularly called on the Nigeria Investment Promotion Council (NIPC) to educate investors on its “One Stop Shop’’ initiative on providing information on modalities of doing business in the country.

The expert commended the Federal Government for the implementation of the new electricity tariff.

“I think, the government is doing a good job now in terms of increasing tariff on electricity which is a good thing.

“We always compare other countries with Nigeria, but guess what?

“We do not pay like other countries pay, so if we are expecting to have power for 24 hours, we need to pay.

“Nigerians, including me, must form the habit of paying their bills promptly,’’ she said.

http://www.financialwatchngr.com/2016/02/09/economist-urges-fg-to-invest-more-on-ict/

Please stop asking our dear president to invest in Whatever that does not have anything to do with kworoption and selecting probing of perceived enemies.

Thank you.