FG TO CREATE ONE MILLION JOBS ON DIGITAL PLATFORMS

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Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, says about one million jobs are to be created through digital platforms in the next five years.

Speaking in Abuja at a virtual stakeholders engagement workshop on the draft National Outsourcing Strategy for Nigeria 2020-2025, he said Nigerians, particularly players in the digital economy should learn from how the world’s 25 richest billionaires have gained over $225 billion in just two months of the Coronavirus pandemic.

“Almost all of them leverage on the power of digital platform to get the whopping amount. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is the biggest gainer. He made almost $32.5bn in two months under lockdown and he has moved from the 7th richest person in the world in early April to the fourth-richest person today,” Abdullahi said.

He assured that the Federal Government would leave no stone unturned on the diversification of the economy, particularly by utilizing digital platforms to increase revenue earnings.

Citing reports in the Forbes Magazine, Abdullahi rated the global business process outsourcing market size as at 2019 at a value of $221.5 billion. He said it was expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.0% from 2020 to 2027.

“With the recent government initiative to make Nigeria a leading digital economy coupled with the government promise to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty, NITDA under the supervision of Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy has refocused its effort to implementation of the National Digital Economy Strategy”.

The workshop, he explained, was predicated on fostering institutional, legal, regulatory, technological and infrastructural environment for sustainable development and rapid growth of IT- enabled outsourcing industry in Nigeria.

“We are targeting the creation of over a million jobs in Nigeria by 2025”, Abdullahi said, as he urged stakeholders to make inputs into the draft to facilitate a robust document that would lift Nigeria to a higher pedestal.

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