Omobola Johnson, Nigeria’s communication technology minister. CC image courtesy of the World Economic Forum, on Flickr.
Omobola Johnson, Nigeria’s communication technology minister, has revealed that unlike the popular notion that there is no job opportunities in Nigeria, the ICT sector has more than enough job openings for qualified vacancies.
Speaking at an e-commerce summit in Lagos last week, Johnson decried the paucity of indigenous ICT experts that could provide world standard services and lamented the continual reliance on foreign experts to provide ICT solutions for Nigerians.
Johnson said her ministry is tackling this by entering into partnerships with internationally acclaimed ICT companies such as Cisco to train Nigerian ICT professionals to attain global standards.
In addition, she said her ministry is also organising vocational training for Nigerian ICT professionals.
These moves, according to the minister, are aimed at increasing local content by the end of the third quarter.
To encourage more companies to locally train their Nigerian ICT workforce, she said the ministry is introducing pioneering status for such companies.
Tayo Oviosu, founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Paga, said his company had to engage the services of developers in Ethiopia to develop the Paga platform.
According to him, if the nation has several qualified developers, many companies will patronize them.
