The federal government has reached advanced talks with Chinese investors to attract about $15 billion additional investments into the Nigerian information and communications technology (ICT), Leadership reports.
The funds will create opportunities for further diversification of the industry as well as the creation of 40 million new jobs for the youth.
The minister of communications, Mr Adebayo Shittu, disclosed this at a two-day Nigerian communications sector retreat which ended at the weekend in Ibadan, Oyo State.
“I just led an industry delegation to China and after discussions with the investment community and unveiling investment potential in the Nigerian ICT industry, the Chinese investors have decided to come to Nigeria to invest about $15 billion into our ICT sector,” he said.
Shittu had last week returned from two international conferences on space technology in Belarus and China where he marketed Nigeria’s cyberspace and telecommunications sector potential to foreign investors. This visit also coincided with the award of a Carrier Spectrum Management (CSM) contract to one of the agencies in the ministry, Nigeria Communications Satellite Limited (NigComSat), by the Republic of Belarus.
The Ibadan retreat had in attendance lawmakers from the communications committees of both the House of Representatives and Senate as well as telecommunication operators, industry associations, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), small and medium businesses (SMBs), chief executives of the five agencies under the ministry, other industry participants as well as the governor of Oyo State, Abiola Ajimobi.
The minister said that the ICT retreat is a key element for inclusive as well as progressive diversification and development of Nigeria’s economy.
“It is precisely the belief in and continuous application of a liberalised market policy that has produced the explosive but uneven growth in the sector so far.
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