The Minister of Communications, Mr. Adebayo Shittu, has said that the Federal Government will create two million jobs from the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector.  He said investors from China would be investing 15 billion dollars in the sector.

He spoke at the maiden Nigeria Communications retreat organized by the Federal Ministry of Communications, at International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan on Friday.

He said: “Information and Communication Technology today creates more jobs than oil and gas and that can further be enjoyed, as investors from China would be investing N15 billion dollars in the ICT sector in Nigeria. So, potential two million jobs will be made available through investments in the sector,” he said.

The minister also disclosed that 550 post offices in different Local Government Areas in the country would soon start engaging in financial services like internet services, call services apart from the traditional letter posting.

“The time has now come to fully embrace ICT to enhance our lives, to enhance transparency and good governance if we are to really fulfill the “change” mantra that Nigerians voted President Muhammadu Buhari to bring about,” he said.

Oyo State Governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, in his address  urged stakeholders in the sector to evolve new ways that will take Nigeria out of the doldrums and re-launch its economy.

The governor observed that ICT was useful in virtually all aspects of human life, especially now that crude oil price was experiencing a free fall in the international market, thus impacting negatively on the nation’s economy.

Quoting the National Bureau of Statistics, Ajimobi said that ICT was a major contributor to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) with 8.68 per cent, adding that the country was the largest ICT user in Africa, with over 94 million internet users.

Besides, he noted that ICT had created over 12 million jobs in the country in the last two years, stressing that it could create even more if necessary frameworks were put in place.

The governor, who cited the examples of United States of America, China and some Asian countries which, he said, had used ICT to re-launch their economies, pointed out that the time had come for Nigeria to transit from an agrarian economy to a knowledge-based one, with ICT serving as the driver.

“I like to call on all stakeholders to come together to device a realistic blueprint for growth and improvement in employment rate.  America, China and many other Asian countries have used ICT to re-launch their countries and their economy,’’ he said.

He called on participants at the retreat to develop realistic strategies on how to use ICT, which he described as an imaginative and innovative sector, to create employment or to convert youths to employment generators.

“We are in the era of change. Ours is a government of change. Let us all come together to make ICT a change agent,’’ the governor said.

He added that this could be achieved by encouraging Nigerians through regular enlightenment on the benefits of information technology, as well as by fashioning out appropriate legal framework by the National Assembly to develop ICT.

Ajimobi also called for the repositioning of Nigerian Postal Services (NIPOST), rather than crippling it, by aligning it with global development in ICT.

In his presentation, the Rwandan Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Kamanzi Stanislas, spoke on the evolution of ICT in his country since 2001, saying that his country had benefitted immensely from information technology.

He said that ICT had been applied in local transportation, automated passenger clearance system at airports, government command centre, robust electronic citizen registry, holding meetings without borders, running a paperless government, as well as offering all government services online.

He called for collaboration between Nigeria and Rwanda on ICT in order to improve on the bilateral relations and the economy of both countries.

In his welcome address, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Communications, Mr. Sonny Echono, said the essence of the retreat was to brainstorm on the development of the ICT sector which, he said, had generic effects on other sectors.


http://thenationonlineng.net/fg-to-generate-2million-jobs-from-ict-minister/

I don't trust the government until the day 2million people get these jobs. Too much lies and propaganda already, one can hardly imagine which is the truth.

Lalasticlala come and hear from our government o

this "we will", and " we goin to" Government. until it's done, it remains a speculation.

how is I.T suppose to create 2 million jobs when peeps can do almost all internet related works on a phone, waiting for police and other ministries to start recruiting.

Noise! Start doing. We don tire to hear projections.

Hahahahahahahahahaha.. A whole 2 million! This govt go just dey come, dey force us to drink BOBO. Do they think we're still in BOBO age? Abeg, make person help me tell them say, we done upgrade, na CHAMPANGE we dey drink now. Make they tell us another thing.


Check my signature for ur customised wristband

Nigeria's government is a government of verb 'to do'
from 1989 promise of 'no more power outage' to vision 2000,2010,2020,2050.........2099!
.......we will.......
........committee has been set up
........progress in the pipeline
shuo
we operate in the future not knowing that our present was once the future we planned to start with!
they should just work and leave the talk to others

FG to, FG to like we still de campaign..

This administration will end in 2019 still using the word 'WILL' without any concrete plan.

lol... easier said than done

this mumu government will provide 2 million jobs in ict

Hmmmmm!

I hope this is not another APC propaganda lies?.......

Anyway, I believe so much in PMB government........And I know he wish well for Nigerians.

With this new development that is about to take place,I can feel and see greater future ahead of us...

God bless PMB administration!
God bless Nigeria!
God bless Republic of Africa!

BTW, check my signature on how to get rid of excess ugly belly fats

Okay. Food don land for the wailers.

FOOD FOR THE WAILERS!!!

Yawns...

And the drama continues.

APC!,APC!! APC!!! How many times I called you? Very quick to pronounce and later deny it. I find it hard to accept what you say.

Na today?? They'll no count I.t students as staffs

With the level of literacy in Nigeria, it is high time we stopped nonsensical note of address and replace it with realistic objectives.

I would have taken the ministers more serious of he highlighted the various ways ICT can creat jobs instead of reading addresses that he may not have personally written.

IAMLOOSEWEIGHT

ooya na. let's start blogging at Post Offices ...

Favourite words and phrases of this administration:

shall, soonest, phight kwaraption, GEJ, technically, sooner than later, in a minute's time, very soon, in the fullness of time



Even the zombies know this news is a lie but they will simply do what they are paid to do...

Who doesn't want to eat Aisha's rice and drink her chilled glass of fura donunu this December?

This people are still promising when they have not fulfilled a single promise they made during campaigns, oh i forgot they denied making any promise.

How young, vibrant and intelligent Nigerians were scammed into entrusting their futures with these men who should be living on their retirement benefits and attending to grandpa duties, is just beyond me.
Who the fu*k drives the economy of the china we never stop soliciting investments from? Aged gerontocrats or young active minds?

Even yahoo boys too oo. Those boys know how to generate money

coolzeal:
I don't trust the government until the day 2million people get these jobs. Too much lies and propaganda already, one can hardly imagine which is the truth.

2 million ke ,until the day 500 people get job.

Govt of comedy, by the comedians and for the comedians.

Except that there's nothing funny in this comedy except anguish which the zombies say they love

Kudos and credit to sai baba and his team. However, wailers association will not like this news oooo! !!!

Apt!

Start doing biko! Thanks in advance.

Enqaqe your hands and brains, disenqaqe ur mouths...haba, too much words do not fill a basket in the farm, we're tired of hearinq U quys speak, let's see U quys(APC) walk your talk! Action speaks louder than words

Future tense all the time, no past or present tense......awon alainikanse